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1 







THE LORD OF THE DYKES. 
















































HISTORY 

OF 


The Netherlands 


(HOLLAND AND BELGIUM) 


BY yH' 

ALEXANDER YOUNG 

Author of “The Comic and Tragic Aspects of Life,” Etc. 


REVISED AND ENLARGED 

Fully Illustrated 



V 


COPYRIGHT 1884 

By ESTES and LAURIAT 


COPYRIGHT 1895 

By the WERNER COMPANY 


Netherlands 


f 









PREFACE. 


Although the heroic period of Netherland history has 
been brilliantly illustrated by Mr. Motley, yet the researches 
of Dutch and Belgian scholars have brought to light impor¬ 
tant facts which present some of the prominent personages 
and events of that period in a new aspect. This book, which 
is designed for mature as well as young readers, gives an 
independent view of these and of later annals, with the aids 
which European and American scholarship has furnished for. 
their elucidation. While availing myself of the researches of 
Motley and Prescott, of Davies and Grattan, my judgments 
of men and measures are mainly derived from a study of 
original authorities. 

The Correspondence of William the Silent, of Philip II., of 
Alexander Farnese, the Relations of the Venetian Ambassa¬ 
dors, and other publications of the accomplished Gachard, 
have been of great service to me, as well as the Archives of 
the House of Orange-Nassau, edited by the learned Groen van 
Prinsterer. I have consulted the works of Van Meteren, 
Mendoza, Van der Vynckt, Grotius, Brandt, Le Clerc, Bas- 
nage, Wagenaar, De Thou, Dewez, Ranke, Mignet, Ger- 
lache, Borgnet, Lafuente, Juste, Stern, Forneron, Hubert, 
Froude, Guizot, Gardiner, besides many contemporary 

chronicles, memoirs, and state papers. I have also profited 
1 



11 


Preface, 


by the scholarly publications of the Historical Society of 
Belgium, which has done so much to elucidate Netherland 
history. 

Among the facts thus collected are some which throw new 
light on the character and career of William the Silent. His 
dealings with Don John of Austria and the Duke of Anjou, 
the means by which he obtained the great office of Ruward 
of Brabant, his relations with Ryhove and Imbize, the various 
attempts upon his life, the execution of his assassin, and the 
rewards given to the assassin’s family are here exhibited in 
unfamiliar aspects. The public burning of monks in Ghent 
and Bruges by Protestant fanatics, which helped to destroy 
the union of the Netherlands two years after it had been 
secured by the famous Pacification of Ghent, the true nature 
of the noted Salseda conspiracy, the opposition of Dutch 
cities to the sovereignty of Orange, are now for the first 
time, so far as I am aware, given in English. 

To the Spanish governors of the Netherlands, Requesens, 
Don John of Austfia, Parma, and the Archduke Albert, and 
also to Cardinal Granvelle and Philip H., I have tried to 
render impartial justice. In regard to Don John of Austria, 
an article in the Edinburgh Review for July, 1883, on the late 
Sir William Stirling-Maxwell’s elaborate biography of the hero 
of Lepanto, both of which I have seen, shows that my views 
of his character and relations with William the Silent, which 
differ so widely from Mr. Motley’s, are confirmed by that 
monumental work. Besides presenting new facts concerning 
the siege of Antwerp which vindicate the character of the 
illustrious St. Aldegonde, I give others regarding the trial 
and execution of Barneveld and of his son, and the responsi¬ 
bility of Maurice of Nassau therefor, which no English or 


Preface. 


iii 

American historian has mentioned, but which are essential 
to a knowledge of the truth. 

The relations of the Dutch republic with England and 
France are here illustrated by diplomatic and other authori¬ 
ties which reveal the actual condition of affairs during the 
prolonged siege of Ostend. I have shown the cause of the 
change in the policy of the United Provinces toward France 
and Spain which originated under the stadtholder Frederick 
Henry, and the political significance of the sacrifice of the 
De Witts. The limits of this volume have permitted only a 
passing reference to the early and recent history of the Neth¬ 
erlands ; but while they have compelled condensation, I trust 
that they have not prejudiced the interests of truth which it 
has been my chief object to promote. 





TABLE OF CONTENTS. 


CHAP. PAGE 

I. The Ancient Netherlands .ii 

II. Early Struggles for Freedom ...... 22 

III. The Spanish Rule.40 

IV. William of Orange.47 

V. The Inquisition in the Netherlands ... 67 

VI. The Image-Breakers.86 

VII. Philip’s Deceitful Policy.102 

VIII. Alva in the Netherlands. . . ’.109 

IX. Execution of Counts Egmont and Horn . 122 

X. The Drowned Land.135 

XI. Heroic Defence of Haarlem ...... 146 

XH. The Siege of Leyden.157 

XHI. The “Spanish Fury”.176 

XIV. Don John of Austria.197 

XV. Prince Alexander of Parma.238 

XVI. Attempts on the Life of Orange.266 

XVH. The “ French Fury ”.284 

XVIH. Assassination of William the Silent . . . 300 

XIX. Desperate Condition of the United Prov¬ 
inces .321 

XX. The Siege of Antwerp.329 

XXL Leicester’s Misrule.352 

XXH. A Flood of Treachery.372 

XXHI. Schenck’s Death-Struggle.381 























vi Table of Contents. 

CHAP. PAGE 

XXIV. The Daring Capture of Breda. ..... 399 

XXV. Maurice of Nassau’s Triumphs ...... 404 

XXVI. The Archdukes Ernest and Albert . . . 419 

XXVII. Rule of Albert and Isabella.434 

XXVIII. The Battle of Nieuport ........ 449 

XXIX. The Siege of Ostend.458 

XXX. The Two Spinolas ........... 473 

XXXI. The Republic at Bay.484 

XXXII. The Twelve Years’ Truce.495 

XXXIII. Trial and Execution of Barneveld . . . 514 

XXXIV. Escape of Grotius.533 

XXXV. The Stadtholder, Frederick Henry . . . 554 
XXXVI. Weakness of the Spanish Netherlands . . 569 

XXXVII. Dutch War with England.577 

XXXVIII. Massacre of the De Witts.592 

XXXIX. Decline of the Dutch Republic.605 

XL. Rise of Constitutional Government . . . 630 
XLI. The Netherlands of To Day.645 













LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 


The Lord of the Dykes . . 

Windmills. 

Gauls. 

Batavian Cavalryman. . • 

Street Scene in Belgium . . 

Charlemagne in Council. . 

The Northmen . , . . . 

Belfry at Bruges .... 
Van Artevelde at his Door . 

Belfry at Ghent. 

Philip the Good of Burgundy 
Charles the Bold .... 

Charles V. 

View on the Canal, Ghent . 
Abdication of Charles V. 

Philip of Spain. 

Isabella. 

Duchess of Parma .... 
Cardinal Granvelle . . . 

View of Porte Rabot . . • 

Burning of the Heretics . . 

William of Orange .... 

Image-Breakers. 

Count of Egmont .... 

Count of Horn. 

Sacking of the Cathedral 
Early Protestants .... 


PAGE 

Frontispiece 

. . . 13 

. . . 16 

. . . 17 

. . . 21 

. . . 23 

. . . 24 

. . . 26 

. . . 29 

. • • 32 

. . • 33 

. . . 37 

. . . 41 

... 44 

... 49 

... 53 

... 57 

. . . 61 

... 69 

... 73 

... 77 

... 81 

... 87 

... 91 

... 95 

... 99 

. . . 103 






























viii List of Illustrations. 

PAGE 

Duke of Alva.iii 

Torture of Protestants. 0.115 

“ Wild Beggars ” . . . . i.117 

Execution of Egmont and Horn.125 

Prince of Conde.•.129 

The Drowned Land, Zuyder Zee. 131 

Conflict between Spanish Fleet and Sea Beggars.137 

Massacre of St. Bartholomew.140 

The St. Bartholomew ..141 

View in Haarlem. 147 

Defence of Haarlem.151 

Defence of Alkmaar ..159 

Queen Elizabeth. 163 

Hotel de Ville, Middlebiu'g. .169 

Misery of the Peasants.173 

Windmill.177 

The Pont Noble.181 

City Gate. 185 

Matchlock. 189 

Helmet. 193 

Don John boarding the Turkish Ship ........... 199 

Don John of Austria . , . 203 

Hall of States, Middleburg.209 

Orange on his Way to Brussels.215 

Old Houses, Amsterdam.226 

Entrance to the Hall of the States, Middleburg.230 

Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma.,.239 

Matchlock. 241 

National Museum at the Hague.259 

Attempted Assassination of Orange.273 

View in Antwerp.■. 289 

Spanish Ships.295 

Belfry at Valenciennes.303 

The Assassination of Orange. 307 

Gerard on the Rack.312 

View in Rotterdam . 317 

Catherine de Medici. 322 









































List of Ilhistrations. 


IX 


PAGE 

Martin Luther ... 325 

Street in Antwerp . 330 

Fire-Ship .. . . . •. 341 

Elizabeth addressing her Soldiers. 353 

Battle of Zutphen . 359 

“ Thy necessity is greater than mine ”.. 363 

Men dressed as Women at Zutphen .. 367 

The White Tower . 375 

Attacking the Spanish Fleet . . . .'. 383 

Destruction of the Armada .. 389 

Bergen-op-Zoom .. 393 

Henry III. at the Death of Guise . . ’ . 397 

Henry IV. at Ivry . 405 

Zutphen . 409 

Old Houses in Antwerp . 420 

The Second Armada . 425 

Attack on the Fort of Puntal .. 429 

The Escurial ... 433 

Royal Palace at Madrid . .. 441 

Isabella at the Studio of Rubens . 443 

The Archduke Albert at Nieuport . 433 

Ostend. •• . 439 

Market Square, Lille . 463 

Wreck of Spanish Ships . 467 

Duke of Sully . 473 

James Arminius . 481 

James I. of England.483 

Dutch Peasant Women . 491 

Johannes Uytenbogaert ... . 304 

Maurice of Nassau . 311 

Dordrecht . 317 

Franciscus Gomarus . 327 

Delft Flaven .-. 333 

Vandyke . 343 

National Monument at the Hague .. .347 

On the Beach at Scheveningen . 331 

The Harbor of Rochelle . 333 







































X List of Illustrations. 

PAGE 

Rubens. 561 

Maestricht. 565 

The Hotel de Ville, Brussels.571 

Tromp and De Witt planning the Battle of the Downs .... 579 

De Witt and De Ruyter consulting the Map of England . . . 583 

Tromp’s Victory over Blake.589 

De Ruyter on the Medway. 595 

The De Witts in Prison.601 

Descartes at Amsterdam.609 

Peter the Great in the Shipyard.613 

Entrance of William III. into London.617 

Maria Theresa.621 

The Prince entering Brussels. 633 

Waterloo. 639 















HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE ANCIENT NETHERLANDS. 

If we look on the map of Europe we shall see a small, 
triangular-shaped territory between France, Germany, and 
the ocean. This territory, which is now occupied , by the 
kingdoms of Holland and Belgium, has long been known as 
the Netherlands, or L*ow Countries, from the fact that much 
of its surface is flat, and a large part lies below the level of 
the sea. A good deal of the soil of this region consists of 
mud, which has come from its three great rivers, the Rhine, 
the Meuse, and the Scheldt, and of sand, which has been 
heaped up about their mouths by the ocean. 

Civilization has so wonderfully transformed these Low 
Countries that there is hardly a trace to-day of their original 
appearance. They aflbrd the most notable illustration in 
history of the mastery of man over nature. The most pic¬ 
turesque features of the Netherlands show that this mastery 
is only secured by constant watchfulness and labor. Thus 
the placid canals, bordered by dreamy, sheltering trees, seem 
as if they had nothing to do but minister to the enjoyment 
of visitors and the drowsy comfort of dwellers along their 


12 History of the Netheidands. 

peaceful banks. In fact^ they not only serve as means of 
communication, which in other lands are provided by roads, 
but they carry off the waters of turbulent rivers which, if 
left uncurbed, would drown the beautiful cities, with their 
rich, quaint architecture, their splendid churches, storied 
museums, and fruitful industries, and utterly destroy the fer¬ 
tile meadows and, luxuriant gardens, which add so much to 
the prosperity of the people. Those picturesque windmills, 
that swing their long arms round and round in a sort of 
despairing earnestness, are the sentinels on guard over the 
baffled waters which are always trying to rush over the coun¬ 
try. The streams, lakes,'and marshes would have a large part 
of the land under subjection were it not for the countless 
mills, whose giant strength forces the dangerous water into 
artificial channels. The immense embankments of granite, 
earth, and wood, called dykes, which are such striking ob¬ 
jects in the Netherlands, keep the furious and disappointed 
ocean from desolating the regions that it originally occupied. 
These dykes seem to defy the assaults of the angry sea, but 
its ravages are so great in their massive walls that a fortune 
is needed to keep them in repair. Though upwards of fif¬ 
teen hundred millions of dollars have been spent in con¬ 
structing these gigantic bulwarks, it requires more than two 
millions yearly to maintain them. Thus these Low Coun¬ 
tries, or Netherlands, the very soil of which had to be 
wrested from the hostile waters, are, for the most part, only 
permitted to exist on condition of perpetual strife with these 
useful though rebellious servants.^ 

In ancient times this swampy, spongy territory was bor- 

1 Butler, the author of “ Hudibras,” who died in 1680, vividly describes 
Holland as, — 

“ A country that draws fifty feet of water, 

In which men live as in the hold of nature. 

And when the sea does in upon them break. 

And drown a province, does but spring a leak.” 



WINDMILLS, 


13 
























50 B. c. 


Warlike Gauls and Germans. 


15 


dered by thick forests which prevented it from being wholly 
washed away. The wretched inhabitants of this watery 
waste were obliged to raise mounds for dwelling places amid 
the frequent floods. Strange as it seems, this race of sav¬ 
ages, living on fish and spending much of their time in try¬ 
ing to keep themselves from drowning, grew into a great and 
powerful nation. Their hardships were the school of cour¬ 
age and perseverance that enabled them to surpass races 
placed amid more genial conditions. They made the over¬ 
flowing rivers fertilize the soil of their country, which became 
a garden of productive industry. The ocean that threat¬ 
ened to engulf them, they kept back by embankments, while 
covering it with their commerce. But the chief glory of this 
people was not in their industrial enterprise and wealth, or in 
the triumphs of their arts and arms, but in the services which 
they rendered to the cause of human liberty and justice by 
their resistance to oppression. How they gained this honor¬ 
able and commanding position in history, it is the object of 
the following pages to show. 

The first account which we have of the inhabitants of the 
Netherlands is furnished by Julius Caesar, about fifty years 
before the birth of Christ. The Romans under him were then 
on their career of universal conquest. He found the interior 
of the country occupied by Celts, or Gauls, and its borders 
by Teutonic or German tribes. Both these races were gigantic 
in stature and warhke in disposition. They were alike of fair 
complexion and wore their hair long; but that of the Gauls 
was yellow, and that of the Germans red. The Celts were 
more fond of ornament than the Teutons, but though more 
excitable, were not capable of so much endurance. There 
was much less freedom among the Gallic than among the 
German tribes, the latter having but few slaves, and electing 
their kings as well as petty magistrates by the popular choice. 
The bravest of the Celts had a mixture of German blood; 


16 History of tJie Netherlands. 

and their name, Belgse, is the origin of the.modern name, 
Belgium. 

The Gauls were tillers of the soil, raised sheep and cattle, 
and had some export trade in salted provisions. They occu¬ 
pied permanent homes and lived in towns and villages, 
while the Germans led the roving life of warriors who de¬ 
spised peaceful industry. In religion the Teutonic had an ad¬ 
vantage over the Celtic inhabitants of the Netherlands, in the 



GAULS. 


greater purity and simplicity of their faith. The Gauls were 
enslaved by the cruel superstitions taught by the Druids, a 
class of priests who ruled them in civil as well as religious 
matters ; but the Germans worshipped a single supreme God 
in groves especially consecrated for that purpose. 

In their domestic relations the Germans were much purer 
than the Celts, who did not recognize the sacredness of mar¬ 
riage. The Teuton showed more devotion to his single wife 




2 


BATAVIAN CAVALRYMAN. 


17 

























A. D. 69. 


The Roma 7 i Conquest. 


9 


than the Gaul did to the various women whom he held in 
common with his relatives. 

The greater simplicity of the Germans appeared also in 
their funeral rites. They did not, like the Celts, throw 
favorite animals and slaves into the flames which consumed 
the bodies of the dead, or erect great monuments of earth 
or stone above them; but, like some American Indians, they 
buried in the grave of the warrior his arms and faithful steed, 
which, unlike the Indians, they had’previously burned. 

Caesar easily conquered the Celtic inhabitants of the Neth¬ 
erlands, but the Germans gave him more trouble. Some 
tribes fought till nearly all their warriors were killed or carried 
into slavery. One of these races, the Batavians, inhabiting an 
island at the mouth of the Rhine, formed an alliance with 
the Romans and served with distinction in their armies. 
They were especially noted for their cavalry, which gained 
the empire of the world for Csesar in his great victory over 
Pompey. For a long time the Batavian troops were the 
body-guard of the emperors. They made and unmade 
those mighty sovereigns. The contest for the imperial throne 
between Vitellius and Vespasian incited a revolt of the Neth¬ 
erlands, under the lead of Civilis, a noble Batavian who had 
adopted the Roman surname of Claudius. Having been 
ungratefully treated by the rulers for whom he had fought 
bravely, he sought to avenge his own wrongs while securing 
the freedom of his country. 

The success of Civilis being predicted by a witch who 
lived alone in a tall tower in the woods, and who was vener¬ 
ated by the superstitious Germans, they aided his attacks 
on the invaders. The Romans were astonished at the courage 
of these barbarians in boldly assailing their camp. Here, 
however, the superior mechanical skill of the besieged gave 
them a great advantage over their uncivilized opponents. 
Civilis, aided by deserters from their ranks, built a movable 


20 History of the Netherlands, 

wooden tower two stories high. This he filled with soldiers 
and moved near the enemy’s works. The Romans, by the 
use of heavy beams, crushed in this tower, burying the sol¬ 
diers in its ruins. One machine used against the barbarians 
is said to have been invented by the Greek philosopher, 
Archimedes. It had an arm like a crane, which swung out 
over the heads of the troops of Civilis. This arm, being 
suddenly let down, caught hold of the besiegers, lifted them 
high in air above the astonished Germans, and then, suddenly 
turning, threw them headlong into the camp. 

After fighting bravely, and at times successfully, against the 
invaders, the Batavian chief was at last deserted by the Gauls 
and distrusted by his own people. The Roman general 
Cerialis now employed agents to tempt the disheartened foe 
to abandon the struggle. He even prevailed upon the Ger¬ 
man witch to change her prophecy of success to that of ruin 
to the enemy. As the Batavians thought resistance to fate 
and the Romans useless, Civilis resolved not to let them 
sacrifice him to their despair. Having agreed to arrange 
a peace, the two pommanders had a bridge across a river 
broken down in the middle. They stood facing each other 
on opposite ends. Nothing more is known of that meeting. 
This is the last record that history has of the gallant, patriotic 
Civilis, the Mithridates of the West. 

Although civilization has changed the character of the 
people of the Netherlands, its two ancient races, the Germans 
and Gauls, have preserved their distinctive traits in modern 
times. The inhabitants of the northern parts of the country, 
though not naturally so warlike as those of the southern, have 
shown greater persistency and endurance. They have made 
their low, swampy lands more valuable than the soil of the 
upper region, and they have defended them more bravely. 
The Dutch, those sturdy descendants of the ancient Bata¬ 
vians, founded a great independent republic, and have made 


A School of Character. 


21 


a deeper mark in history than the inhabitants of the Belgic 
provinces, who submitted to foreign rule. All this shows that 
hardship is a better school of character than luxury, and 
that the country with the least natural advantages may raise 
the bravest and noblest people. 



STREET SCENE IN BELGIUM. 






CHAPTER II. 


EARLY STRUGGLES FOR FREEDOM. 

When the northern barbarians invaded the- Roman empire, 
in the fourth century, the Netherlanders did not falter in 
their devotion to their masters. They fought for them, even 
against their liberty-seeking German relations who were 
trampled by the famous Batavian cavalry in the great battle 
at Strasburg in 357. During the next hundred years a tide 
of Franks, Vandals, Saxons, and other invaders swept over 
the Netherlands, but when the flood went down, the same 
races occupied the territory as before, though the proportion 
of Germans had increased. The Christian religion was now 
rising on the ruins of Paganism. 

In the course of the fifth century the power of the Franks 
succeeded to that of the Romans. The Belgic Gauls sub¬ 
mitted to the new rulers, but the Frisians, an ancient German 
tribe closely related to the Anglo-Saxon race, and represent¬ 
ing the old Batavian people, held out bravely against the 
conquering Franks. These ‘Tree Frisians,” as they liked 
to call themselves, had always chafed under foreign oppres¬ 
sion. At the Roman conquest they were let off with a tribute 
of hides for military purposes. Olennius, the officer charged 
to collect this tribute, required payment in the skins of the 
aurochs, a huge species of wild ox. As the ordinary cattle 
in Friesland were small, this demand was only an excuse 
for seizing their property and enslaving their wives and 


500-692. 


The Brave Frisiaiis. 



to the arms or religion of the invaders. The lazy Merovin¬ 
gian kings had to depend on the Netherlanders of Brabant, 
with whom they had united, for the power to overcome the 
Frisians. 

Charles Martel, or the Hammer, as the pounding French 
general was called, followed up the victories of his father 
Pepin against them. When the Frisian king, Radbod, had 
yielded to the blows of the Hammer, he agreed to be bap- 


23 

children. The Frisians revolted, hung the tax gatherers, and 
chased the cruel Olennius out of the country. 

The new masters of the Netherlands, being Christians, 
sought to convert as well as conquer the pagan Frisians. 
But though the Frankish king, Dagobert I., set up a Christian 
church at Utrecht, the country at large would not submit 


CHARLEMAGNE IN COUNCIL. 






24 


History of the Netherlands, 


tized as a Christian. Just as he had put one leg into the 
water for this purpose, he suddenly asked the French bishop, 
“Where are all my dead forefathers now?” The answer 



THE NORTHMEN. 


\^'as, “In hell, with all other unbelievers.” “Well, then,” 
said Radbod, taking his leg from the water, “ I would rather 
go to hell with them, than to heaven with you and your 
fellow foreigners.” 



















750 - 1217 . 


Counts of Holland. 


25 


It was not till the Frisians had been again beaten by the 
French, in the year 750, that they became Christians. The 
great emperor, Charlemagne, who united the Netherlands 
under his rule at the close of the eighth century, allowed 
this brave tribe to keep their own land and laws. Yet they 
suffered severely from the fierce invading Northmen in the 
ninth century. When Charlemagne died and his empire 
broke in pieces, the Netherlands became provinces of the 
empire of Germany. At about this time the little sovereign¬ 
ties of the country were made hereditary. Thus Holland, 
in the year 922, was granted by Charles the Simple to Count 
Dirk and his descendants, though their dominion was dis¬ 
puted for hundreds of years by the warlike bishops of Utrecht. 
The people of the Netherlands now had no control of the 
government; they were so poor and oppressed that many 
were glad to sell themselves into slavery. Others built wretched 
huts, under the protection of some lordly castle. Crimes 
were generally punished by the payment of money, and a 
poor person unable to pay a fine was sold as a slave. This 
state of things lasted for some five hundred years. 

As slaves who went to the Crusades, or Holy Wars, were 
liberated on their return, they helped to increase the num¬ 
ber of freemen, which was gradually getting larger. The 
traders and mechanics, who built their houses around the 
lords’ castles, became important enough to have charters 
granted to them as communities, and to form associations, 
called guilds, for their benefit. These town charters pro¬ 
tected the people from violence by the forms of law. The 
oldest charter in those provinces which afterwards formed the 
Dutch republic was granted to the town of Middleburg in 
the year 1217 by Count William I. of Holland and Countess 
Joanna of Flanders. 

The trade of the cities of the Netherlands with England, 
the Mediterranean, and the East, in time made them so rich 


26 


History of the Netherlands. 


that they secured a share in the general government which 
had been hitherto controlled by the nobles. Of these cities, 



BELFRY AT BRUGES. 


Bruges, whose glories Longfellow has celebrated in his poem. 
‘‘The Belfry of Bruges,” was the most prosperous. 

In the thirteenth century the stormy German Ocean rolled 
over the low land into a lake in the interior of Friesla,nd, 


355 * 


Jacques van Artevelde. 


27 


forming what is now called the Zuyder Zee. The deluge 
destroyed thousands of villages and their inhabitants, and 
separated the eastern from the western part of the country. 
For years the “ dead cities,” as they are called, on the shores 
of this sea have been among the curiosities of Holland. 
It is proposed to make a greater curiosity here by forcing the 
Zuyder Zee to retire and give back the fertile soil which was 
despoiled by the ocean six hundred years ago. The plan is 
to build an immense dyke twenty-five miles long, enclosing 
about five hundred thousand acres, and then pump out the 
water with steam-engines. The work will require sixteen 
years and cost about seventy-five million dollars. As the 
great lake of Haarlem, covering forty-five thousand acres, 
was drained in this way about thirty years ago, this gigantic 
project is likely to be carried out if the value qf farming land 
promises a fair profit from the drowned region. 

After the counts, or dirks, of Holland had ruled that terri¬ 
tory for nearly four hundred years, they died out, and their 
dominions passed to the countship of Hainault. In 1355 the 
count of this country, William IV., dying without children, a 
civil war broke out between the two great parties of Kabbel- 
jaw, or codfish, representing the city people, and the Hooks, 
or fish-hooks, representing the nobles, who wanted to catch 
and hold them. 

In the fourteenth century the stormy spirit of liberty in 
Flanders excited revolts against its sovereign counts. Two 
men named Van Artevelde, father and son, were both leaders 
and victims of these warlike struggles. Though belonging to 
a distinguished family, Jacques, or James, van Artevelde, in 
order to gain favor with the people, became a member of the 
guild or craft of brewers, one of the numerous corporations 
into which the Flemish towns were divided. Hence his his¬ 
toric title, — the Brewer of Ghent. 

From the peculiar covering for the head worn by the men 


28 


History of the Netherlands. 


of Ghent when in military service, they were called White 
Hoods. By his eloquence Artevelde gained great author¬ 
ity over the masses, and was chosen leader of some fifty 
guilds, — the weavers, clothiers, mariners, &.c. He was 
thus enabled to wield vast influence in Flanders, driving 
Count Louis of Crecy into exile, and ruling the country 
as its defender. So great was his power that Edward III. 
of England, who had designs on the throne of France, 
sent ambassadors to request his alliance. It was at his sug¬ 
gestion that Edward added the fleur-de-Us, the emblem of 
French sovereignty, to the royal arms. The British invasion 
having failed, Artevelde feared the vengeance of the Count 
of Flanders. To secure the protection of England, he tried 
to persuade his Flemish supporters to accept the Black 
Prince, the son of Edward HI., as their sovereign. He 
thus excited the opposition of the powerful city of Ghent, 
which, though sustaining his seizure of the count’s authority, 
would not submit to a change in the succession, and, least 
of all, to a foreign ruler. In a bloody battle between the 
weavers and other guilds in the market-place, the party of 
the once popular leader was defeated. 

The enemies of Artevelde now spread reports that he had 
secretly sent a large part of the revenues of Flanders to Eng¬ 
land, and placed English troops in his house. Alarmed by 
the threatening appearance of the people as he rode through 
the streets of Ghent, he fastened all his doors and windows. 
But the furious populace broke into the dwelling, with cries of 
vengeance. After a desperate defence and a vain attempt to 
appease the fury of his assailants, Artevelde was slain. At 
the time of the massacre, which occurred in 1341, he had 
ruled the country with great ability for ten years. 

About forty years after the death of Jacques van Artevelde 
the citizens of Ghent, having made war upon the Count of 
Flanders, and recalling the brilliant services of their former 



VAN ARTEVELDE AT HIS DOOR, 


29 






















1381. PJdlip van Artevelde. 31 

leader, sought out his son Philip, who was living in retire¬ 
ment. The excited multitude carried the astonished recluse 
to the market-place, and with one voice proclaimed him gov¬ 
ernor and defender of their liberties. This romantic hero was 
named in honor of Philippa of Hainault, queen of Edward 
III. of England, who stood godmother at his baptism. The 
famous John of Gaunt, or Ghent, was her son. Philip van 
Artevelde began his rule by attempting to restore order in 
the turbulent city and relieving the distresses of the famishing 
people. With hereditary heroism he led the stout-hearted 
men of Ghent, who were always ready to leave their peace¬ 
ful crafts to fight for real or fancied grievances, against their 
exacting sovereign. 

The Count of Flanders, unable to resist this onset of the 
gallant Flemish weavers, was overwhelmed, with his army, 
and sought shelter in a poor woman’s house in the splendid 
city of Bruges, being saved by her kindness from his pursu¬ 
ers. But the vast riches of the city became the prey of the 
conquerors. For a fortnight two hundred carts were kept 
busy in transporting loads of gold and silver, jewels and 
precious stulfs, to Ghent. Among the treasures was the fa¬ 
mous Golden Dragon of Bruges, as large as an ox, which w^as 
taken from the Mosque of St. Sophia at Constantinople in 
one of the Crusades. This gorgeous trophy of the triumph 
of Philip van Artevelde was placed on the summit of the 
belfry of Ghent, which it still adorns. Becoming almost un¬ 
disputed master of Flanders, the city of Oudenarde alone 
holding out against him, Artevelde assumed the style of a 
sovereign prince and added to his name the title of Regard 
de Flandres^ — the overlooker of Flanders. 

Unfortunately for Philip, the necessity of overawing his 
rebellious subjects at home led King Charles VI. to aid 
the Count of Flanders, his vassal, against the usurper. Un¬ 
able to conciliate France or obtain aid from England, the 


32 History of the Netherlands. 

daring Artevelde, feeling himself insulted by Charles’s scorn¬ 
ful treatment, boldly prepared for war. The French army, 
after defeating one of his commanders, marched against 



BELFRY AT GHENT. 


Philip, who boldly resolved to risk an engagement. The 
conflict, which is known as the battle of Rosbecque, took 
place near Ypres, Nov. 27, 1382. It was fatal to Artevelde, 



























1437 * 


Philip the Good. 


35 


whose army was swept away in the space of half an hour, and 
he himself killed. No mortal wound being found on his per¬ 
son, he was supposed to have been pressed to death by his 
panic-stricken troops. The body of the gallant patriot was 
stripped by the enemy and left hanging to a tree. His char¬ 
acter and career have been made familiar to English readers 
by Henry Taylor’s striking dramatic poem of “ Philip van 
Artevelde.” 

The next great change in the fortunes of the Netherlands 
was their transfer to the dukes of Burgundy. This was 
brought about under the rule of Philip miscalled “ the Good,” 
a very rich, enterprising, and powerful sovereign. The cities 
of Flanders and the fisheries of Holland flourished during 
his reign, but the liberties of the country declined. At his 
luxurious court the glamour of chivalry eclipsed the light 
of freedom. 

An invention which did much to protect the rights of the 
provinces was brought out at the very time that this ambitious 
Duke Philip was trying to overthrow them. Lawrence Cos¬ 
ter, a humble sexton of Haarlem, in Holland, printed a little 
grammar with movable types. ^ It did not attract much at¬ 
tention, but as it became the means of spreading knowledge 
among the people, it was of much more benefit to the world 
than the knightly order of the Golden Fleece, which Duke 
Philip was so proud of founding. This order glorified the 
woollen industries which had given wealth to the Nether¬ 
lands. The number of the. knights was limited to twenty- 
five, and comprised emperors, kings, princes, and great 

1 There is a statue to Coster in Haarlem, as the inventor of printing, though 
the claim of the German, Gutenberg, is generally credited. But the Dutch say 
that he was a workman of Coster’s and stole his invention, and they show, 
in the town hall of Haarlem, a work bearing the date 1440, about ten years 
before Gutenberg brought out a book. Coster’s real name was Lorenz or 
Lawrence Janszoon, and he was called Coster because that is the Dutch word 
for sexton. 


36 History of the Netherlands. 

nobles, none of whom, with the exception of reigning sov¬ 
ereigns, were allowed to belong to any other order. 

While Philip crushed the liberties of the people and loaded 
them with taxes, he had sense enough to protect their com¬ 
merce and manufactures. His taste led him also to give aid 
to literature, science, and art. He encouraged authors like 
Comines, and painters like the brothers Van Eyck. The cel¬ 
ebrated Burgundian library which he founded at Brussels, 
and the university of Louvain which he fostered, helped to 
offset his bad political work. He died in February, 1467. 

Philip’s son and successor, Charles the Bold, outdid his 
tyranny in the Netherlands. He kept up the system 
of arbitrary and oppressive government, by which his 
father had changed what was nearly a republican into an 
almost despotic rule. He plunged into ambitious foreign 
wars, the failure of which obliged him to tax his sub¬ 
jects so heavily that riots broke out in the cities. Then 
he maintained a standing army and removed the Supreme 
Court from Holland. Fortunately for the world, Charles the 
Bold’s ambition was^greater than his talents. It was crushed 
at last by the brave mountaineers of Switzerland. While 
attempting to conquer them he used to compare himself to 
Hannibal, the Carthaginian general who had led an army 
across the Alps. His jester, to whom he boasted of this sup¬ 
posed resemblance, said to him after one of his worst de¬ 
feats, We are getting well Hannibalized to-day, my lord.” 
His violent deatli, in 1477, was a fortunate thing for the 
Netherlands, for it enabled them to make a great and bold 
strike for their liberties. A meeting was called at Ghent by 
the cities of Holland, Flanders, and other provinces, to claim 
their ancient privileges from the Duchess Mary, Charles’s 
daughter and heiress. As the French king, Louis XL, had 
seized her dominions in Burgundy, she was glad to grant 
their demands for the sake of their aid. In this way the 



CHARLES THE BOLD. 


37 

















1477 - 


Great Charter of Holland. 


39 


Magna Charta of Holland, called hy^ the Dutch Groot 
Privilegie,” or Great Privilege, was founded. It was a res¬ 
toration of the Parliamentary rights of the country, and 
formed the basis of the future republic. Similar privileges 
were granted to Flanders and other provinces. 

Thus, despite opposition, political liberty had made progress 
in the Netherlands during the last two centuries. Commerce 
with England, whence the Flemings obtained wool for their 
manufactures, and the progressive maritime enterprise of 
the Dutch, had broadened the national life. Struggles with 
their own and with foreign rulers had strengthened the 
stormy spirit of freedom. The Arteveldes had done good 
work, though they shared the narrowness of the guilds of 
artisans who oppressed labor while resisting the aggression 
of the rich burgher families. The Burgundian rule, though 
depressing the liberties of the people, favored their increase 
in wealth, and gave them strength for the long struggle with 
tyranny. Socially, too, there had been an advance. Riches 
had brought taste and refinement. The invention of the 
shirt and the night-dress in the fourteenth century was a 
landmark of progress. Extravagance and licentiousness 
were still crying evils, nobles and boors alike ate and drank 
to excess, but art was to soften the prevailing coarseness, and 
the very cities which were the hotbeds of luxury were to be 
the strongholds of resistance to oppression.^ 

1 Since my imperfect sketch of the Arteveldes was in type, the instructive 
volumes of Mr. Hutton and Mr, Ashley have given English readers a new idea 
of their characters and careers, as illustrated by the researches of modern 
Flemish scholars. 


CHAPTER III. 


THE SPANISH RULE. 

The next event in the history of the Netherlands placed 
them in the power of the Hapsburgs, the imperial family of 
Austria. The Duchess Mary married the Archduke Maxi¬ 
milian, Aug. 18; 1477, i^ot long afterward was killed by a 
fall from her horse. Her husband, as guardian of her son 
Philip, a boy of four years, succeeded to the government, 
though the province of Flanders held out bravely against him 
for some time. He proved to be a hard ruler, and destroyed 
the liberties he had sworn to protect. 

By the death of his father in 1493, Maximilian became 
Emperor of Germany. The Netherlands accepted as their 
sovereign his son Pjiilip, called the Fair, abandoning their 
Great Privilege, and other charters of liberty which had cost 
them so much blood and money to obtain. Philip soon mar¬ 
ried a Spanish princess, a daughter of the noted Ferdinand 
and Isabella, who four years afterward, in the year 1500, 
gave birth to a son. This infant became the famous Emperor 
Charles V., who brought so much suffering to the Netherlands 
by uniting them with his Spanish dominions. Under his rule 
these provinces, full of commercial energy and spirit, and at¬ 
tached to civil and religious liberty, were held in subjection to 
the haughty, warlike, and persecuting Spaniards. The two 
nations were so unlike that they soon, learned to hate each 
other. 

The way in which Charles V. treated the city of Ghent 
shows what sort of a ruler of the Netherlands he was. At 



CHARLES V. 














/v ' 




1540 . 


Subjection of Ghent. 


43 


that time Ghent was one of the principal cities of Europe, 
being larger than Paris, and able to muster over sixty thou¬ 
sand fighting men. It was famous for its riches, and for the 
stormy spirit of independence which distinguished its inhab¬ 
itants. Surrounded by strong walls nine miles in length, and 
possessing fine streets and squares and splendid public build¬ 
ings, the city was even more remarkable for its active indus¬ 
tries. Every morning, noon, and night the bells were rung, 
and the drawbridges over the canals closed to the passage of 
vessels, while the armies of workmen were going to and from 
their labors. Other persons were warned not to interfere, by 
their presence in the streets, with the moving throng; and 
children were carefully kept . in-doors lest they should be 
trodden under foot. One of the objects most valued by 
the citizens was a great bell called Roland, which for many 
years had been rung whenever they were threatened with 
foreign or domestic violence. 

Ghent, which, with its suburbs, constituted one of the four 
estates of the province of Flanders, had refused to pay its 
share of a large tax levied for the expense of the emperor’s 
foreign wars. The city claimed that the tax could not be 
lawfully raised without its consent. An insurrection broke 
out among the inhabitants, who secretly asked the aid of 
Francis I., King of France. He not only refused his assist¬ 
ance, but informed Charles V. of their request. The em¬ 
peror, now bent on punishing them severely, came to Ghent, 
Feb. 14,^ 1540, with a grand array of soldiers and great 
dignitaries of church and state. He remained a month in 
the city before inflicting vengeance on the people. Then he 
had nineteen of the leaders of the insurrection beheaded, 
deprived Ghent of all its liberties, ordered the removal of the 
great bell Roland, and required the deputies to kneel at the 
foot of his throne with heads bare and halters round their 
necks. Strange to say, the badge of disgrace in time became 


44 JJistory of the Netherlands. 

a decoration. Being forbidden to appear in public without 
the halter, the magistrates at last had the rope changed to a 
rich silken cord. This was worn round the neck as an orna¬ 
ment, and tied in front with a true-lover’s-knot. 



VIEW ON THE CANAE, GHENT. 


The humiliation of Ghent was followed by the subjection 
of the Netherlands to despotic rule. But there were influ¬ 
ences at work, after years of submission to tyranny, to arouse 
the people to regain their rights. One of these was the spread 





























1555 - 


Character of Charles V. 


45 


of knowledge by the printing-press. Men began to see the 
injustice of religious persecution. The riches acquired by 
bishops and priests excited the jealousy of princes and no¬ 
bles. The sale of pardons for crimes disgusted the common 
people with the officers of the Church, who made fortunes 
by this means. It was not merely Luther and his Protestant 
associates who assailed these abuses. Pope Adrian VI., who 
was the son of a Netherland boat-maker, acknowledged and 
rebuked them. But the excesses committed by pretended 
reformers furnished an excuse for persecuting the true. 

There was a sect of fanatics in the Netherlands called the 
Anabaptists, whose riotous excesses increased the emperor’s 
desire to crush out every form of heresy. Charles V. pun¬ 
ished persons who dared to read the Bible or discuss relig¬ 
ious matters by burning them at the stake. This was not 
done merely for the sake of the Catholic faith, for the empe¬ 
ror had imprisoned the pope and ravaged the holy city of 
Rome. He permitted his German troops in the Netherlands 
to attend Protestant worship, while he was killing the natives 
for doing the same thing. It was because he knew that 
religious would lead to political freedom that he tried to 
root out heresy in the provinces. After he had destroyed 
thousands of innocent people, he left the government to his 
son Philip, and retired to a convent. History for a long time 
represented him as leading the life of a wise, serene philoso¬ 
pher in his seclusion from the world. It is now known, how¬ 
ever, that he passed the remainder of his days in urging new 
measures of severity against heretics, and in excessive eating 
and drinking. At last his food ceased to relish. He com¬ 
plained that all the dishes which his cook sent him were 
tasteless. As the emperor had a great fancy for time-pieces, 
his chamberlain said he did not know of any new delicacy 
which could be served up for his majesty except a pie made 
of watches. 


4-6 History of the Netherlands. 

The grasping ambition of Charles V. led him to commit 
acts of fraud and oppression which have sullied his fame. 
He was a great general, but he was too much of a trickster to. 
be a great statesman. Had he understood the drift of his 
age and the meaning of the Reformation, he would have 
spared himself and his son many trials. But allowance must 
be made for the evil training which led him to regard his 
people as rightful victims of his passion for military glory and 
religious persecution. His descent from the throne was 
forced upon him by ruined health and weakening fortunes, 
the penalty of his reckless living and bad government. It 
was a gloomy close to a brilliant career. 




CHAPTER IV. 


WILLIAM OF ORANGE. 

On the day of the Emperor Charles’s abdication, Oct. 
25, 1555, he entered the splendid palace in the city of Brus¬ 
sels, where the estates of the Netherlands were assembled 
with great pomp to witness the ceremony, leaning on the 
arm of a young man who was to become famous as the saviour 
of his country. He was a tall, handsome-looking youth of 
twenty-two, wearing a mustache and pointed beard which, 
like his eyes, were brown. His forehead was high and broad, 
and he had a thoughtful expression remarkable in one so 
young. This was William of Nassau, Prince of Orange, who 
was already the commander of the imperial army against the 
greatest French generals of the day. In his rich, gilded 
armor, his helmet under his arm, and his hand clasping his 
sword, the youth was a more brilliant figure than the mighty 
monarch or his successor, who stood with him upon the tap¬ 
estried stage, surrounded by princes and bishops and great 
nobles in splendid array. Little did those magnificent 
grandees dream that this young man was destined to sunder 
the empire of the sovereign who now leaned upon his arm, 
and to found an independent nation in the dominions which 
he was about to give up to his son. 

The retiring emperor was a white-haired, gray-bearded 
man, with a large frame, a broad forehead, a hooked nose, 
and a mild but majestic dark-blue eye. The lower part of 
his face was extremely ugly. His heavy under-lip hung from 


48 History of the Netherlands. 

a jaw which protruded beyond the upper one. This feature 
of his countenance was known as the Burgundian lip, it 
having come to him with his dukedom from his ancestors. 
He was simply dressed, his sole ornament being the superb 
collar of the Golden Fleece. Though only about fifty-six 
years of age, he was very infirm. It seemed impossible that 
this feeble man, supported by a crutch and an attendant’s 
shoulder, could be the iron warrior who had borne exposure 
and fatigue for so many years. His constitution, however, 
had been broken down, not by his labors as a soldier, but by 
his habits of gluttony. The ruler of a vast empire, he could 
not govern his appetite. 

The emperor’s son Philip had, like his father, a broad fore¬ 
head, a mild blue eye, and a hooked nose, and he had also 
the misshapen Burgundian lip and jaw. He was much below 
the middle height, small, thin, and narrow-chested; and his 
light hair and short, yellow, pointed beard matched his fair 
complexion. There was a Spanish pride in his manner, and 
a reserved, timid air, which was caused by confirmed ill 
health. Even his splendid dress of velvet and gold could 
not give dignity to Ifis presence. 

This new ruler of the Netherlands, the husband of Mary 
Tudor, Queen of England, was twenty-eight years of age. 
His empire was one of the largest and most powerful that 
the world has ever known, extending over a large .part of 
Europe, Asia, and America. The Spanish statesmen and 
soldiers, poets and painters, had long been renowned through¬ 
out Europe? Yet Philip was wholly incapable of perpetuating 
the glory of his predecessors. He seemed to have a talent 
for misgovernrnent; his fanaticism blinded him to his own 
interests. The liberties of the people had been gradually 
declining. There was a national tendency to decay, caused 
by the false pride of war, idleness, and superstition. The 
king’s policy encouraged this tendency. In his slow and 



4 


ABDICATION OF CHARLES 






















1555 - National Dislike of Philip. 5 I 

narrow mind the religious enthusiasm which had won glory 
for Spain against the Turks and Moors had degenerated 
into bigoted hatred of Christian heretics. Yet, while strict in 
the outward observances of religion, he was extremely licen¬ 
tious. He spoke nothing but Spanish, and disliked the talk¬ 
ativeness of the Netherlanders, preferring to write a long letter 
than to speak a few words. He had a peculiarly embarrassed 
way of looking down when he talked, which was said to be 
partly caused by a stomach-ache brought on by the habit of 
eating more pastry than was good for him. His reserved, 
unsocial nature had none of the dash and spirit of his race. 
The taste for shutting himself up among his papers was 
harmful in a ruler needing personal knowledge of his subject 
provinces. To his servants he was kind, and even liberal; 
but he was very suspicious of his ministers, and when he 
treated one of them with especial favor, if was a sign that his 
vengeance would soon be wreaked upon him. As Philip’s 
own historian said, His dagger followed close upon his 
smile.” Yet the king was not naturally cruel. His horrible 
acts of oppression in the Netherlands were due to his scant 
education and intense religious bigotry. 

In his farewell address to the estates-general, the national 
assembly of the provinces, Charles V. had moved the audi¬ 
ence to tears by his expressions of affection for the people. 
Notwithstanding his interference with their liberties, the 
Netherlanders had become warmly attached to the emperor, 
who was by birth and sympathy one of themselves. They 
gloried in his military achievements, and were fascinated by 
his genial manners and hearty interest in their sports and 
pastimes. But they were repelled by Philip’s haughtiness 
and reserve. Their national dislike to foreigners was deep¬ 
ened towards this cold, sickly Spaniard, who despised their 
merry, jovial ways, and hated their spirit of political and 
religious freedom. Even the jealousies existing between the 


52 


History of the Netherlands* 


different provinces could not prevent them from uniting 
against the oppressor. 

The Netherlanders were at this time extremely prosperous. 
From wretched savages, they had in fifteen centuries become 
a highly civilized people whose merchants and navigators 
had made them famous in distant lands. They supplied 
Charles V. with nearly one half the income of his entire 
dominions, — four times as much as was yielded either by 
Spain or the riches of Mexico and Peru. Their seventeen 
provinces contained two hundred and eight walled cities, 
besides numerous towns and villages; while no less than 
sixty strong fortresses protected the country from foreign 
invasion. Antwerp, the principal city, was then the greatest 
commercial mart in the world, and its buildings were re¬ 
nowned for their splendor throughout Europe. Their mas¬ 
sive and lofty towers, quaint gables, grotesque projections, 
delicate tracery and carvings, were exceedingly picturesque. 
Two thousand loaded wagons from the neighboring countries 
passed daily through the gates of Antwerp, and twenty-five 
hundred vessels found shelter within its spacious harbor. 
Other Netherland cities had special repute for their manu¬ 
factures. Lille was noted for its woollen cloths, Brussels 
for its tapestries and carpets, Valenciennes for its camlets, — 
a delicate stuff made of wool and camel’s hair, — whik 
Louvain and Ghent reproduced with exquisite skill the shawls 
and silks of India. The stout ships, superb cattle, quaint 
tiles, and choice linen of Holland were widely admired. In 
the fine arts the Netherlanders had become famous all over 
the world through the works of the great Belgian, painters 
and musicians, while in general education they surpassed the 
inhabitants of most European countries. 

The government of the provinces was very free, the au¬ 
thority of the sovereign being limited by the privileges of the 
large cities, whiVh ruled the neighboring districts and villages. 



PHILIP OP SPAIN. 


53 




1555 - Government of the Netherlands. 55 

The legislature of the Netherlands, the estates, or states-gen- 
eral, consisted of representatives of the chief cities, the nobility, 
and the clergy. It had the power to grant or refuse the sover¬ 
eign’s requests for money ; any city, as branch of a province, 
possessing a right to withhold such supplies. There were 
corporations, called guilds, which had a good deal of political 
influence in the towns. The name was also given to other 
associations for the cultivation of military and artistic tastes 
among the people. The most important of these societies 
were the guilds of rhetoric, which, though principally com¬ 
posed of mechanics, had literary, musical, and dramatic exer¬ 
cises, and, in spite of their bad taste and extravagance, did 
a good deal to preserve the popular rights. Yearly jubilees of 
these guilds were celebrated with great pomp in the chief 
cities. They were called “ Land-jewels.” 

This liberty-loving, prosperous people, devoted to the 
pursuits of peace, yet easily moved to war, the vigor and 
energy of the woman rivalling that of the men, was to suffer 
under its foreign master trials unexampled in history. 

Philip, while at Brussels, governed the Netherlands wholly 
through a council of Spanish grandees. He had a favorite, 
Ruy Gomez da Silva, Count of Melito, who acted as his valet, 
state counsellor, and minister of finance. It was his privilege 
to dress and undress his master, read or talk him to sleep, 
and look after the affairs of the household, besides managing 
the more important concerns of government. His face, pale 
from these cares, was set off by coal-black hair and beard, 
flashing eyes, and a slender, handsome figure. The friend¬ 
ship of the king for this favorite began in boyhood. Philip, 
having interfered in a quarrel between him and another 
page, was struck by the young Ruy Gomez. For this act the 
rash youth was condemned by the emperor to death, from 
which he was saved by the entreaties of the prince. The 
favorite lost no opportunity of pleasing his master, and on 


56 


History of the Netherlands, 


one occasion allowed him to win a large sum of money at 
cards, instead of taking it himself. By such prudent man¬ 
agement the Count of Melito gained wealth and influence. 
Though an ignorant man, he skilfully concealed his defi¬ 
ciencies when conversing with better-informed persons. He 
worked hard to fit himself for his post, and proved a faithful 
servant to Philip. His peaceful policy was long favored by 
the king, who at last abandoned it for the warlike measures 
of the count’s hated rival, the terrible Alva. 

At the emperor’s abdication, his sister, the Queen of Hun¬ 
gary, had resigned the regency of the Netherlands, where 
she was very unpopular. The appointment of the Duke of 
Savoy, the king’s first cousin, as her successor, showed how 
little the new rulers understood the interests of the provinces. 
He was a warrior who fought for fortune rather than fame, 
and had become rich by buying distinguished prisoners of 
war from soldiers ignorant of their rank, and then ransoming 
them at a great profit. While this was considered fair deal¬ 
ing, it showed his unfitness to rule a people whose interests 
were peaceful. Though an accomplished as well as a brave 
commander, the duke was out of place as regent of the 
Netherlands. 

The hopes of the provinces for peace were disappointed by 
their being drawn into a war which Pope Paul IV. had pro¬ 
voked between Spain and France. In the great battles of this 
war Count Lamoral Egmont, Prince of Gavere, a Hollander 
of illustrious birth who had served with distinction under 
Charles V., bore off the highest honors. His splendid vic¬ 
tory of Saint Quentin over the great French general, the 
Constable Montmorency, added new territory to the Nether¬ 
lands as well as saved them from desolation by the enemy. 
To commemorate this victory, which occurred Aug. lo, 1557, 
the king erected the magnificent palace of the Escurial. But 
while gaining the adoration of his countrymen, Egmont, by 



ISABELLA. 


57 












1559 - 


Mai'garet of Parma. 


59 


his later triumph at Gravelines, excited the hatred of the Duke 
of Alva, which was to prove fatal to him. 

There was great joy in the Netherlands at the peace be¬ 
tween France and Spain, the skilful negotiations of William 
of Orange being confirmed by the treaty of Gateau Cam- 
bresis, April 3, 1559. Antwerp glowed with festivities for 
nine days. Bells rang, bonfires blazed, and cannon roared. 
At night the lofty spire of the great cathedral was brilliantly 
illuminated. Triumphal arches spanned the streets, the per¬ 
fume of flowers filled the air, and wine flowed like water. 
The guilds of rhetoric paraded with grand processions 
and swelling verses. There were feasting and jollity for all 
classes. Prizes, placed on poles, were eagerly climbed for, 
men and women concealed in sacks amused the crowds 
by trials of speed, and pigs were chased by persons blind¬ 
fold. 

Philip, who cared nothing for this merry-making, was eager 
to return home and begin persecutions against heretics in the 
Netherlands. He appointed as regent his sister, the Duchess 
Margaret of Parma, natural daughter of Charles V., whose 
masculine vigor was supposed to be shown in her large 
mustache and severe attacks of gout, as well as by her daring 
horsemanship. In fact, she was called a man in petticoats. 
Yet religious zeal made her humble. Every Holy Week she 
washed the feet of twelve poor maidens, and afterward gave 
them marriage portions. 

The Duchess had been twice unhappily married to nephews 
of different popes. She was only twelve years old when she 
took her first husband, who was fifteen years older than her¬ 
self ; while her second, to whom she was united at the age of 
twenty, was then but thirteen. It was from Philip’s desire to 
keep on good terms with the Duke of Parma that his wife 
was given an important office at a comfortable distance from 
him. Having been taught alt the arts of deception, and pos- 


6 o Histojy of the Netherlands. 

sessing an energetic character, her pious hatred of heretics 
fitted her to carry out her brother’s designs. 

The council of state which Philip appointed to assist the 
regent included the Prince of Orange and Counts Eginont 
and Horn; but the Bishop of Arras, Baron Berlaymont, and 
Viglius van Aytta van Zuichem, who were all bitter haters 
of Protestantism, exercised the chief power. Among the 
stadtholders, or governors of the different provinces, were the 
Prince of Orange and Count Eginont. These stadtholders 
commanded the native military forces of the Netherlands, 
which in time of peace consisted of only three thousand men, 
but these were among the best cavalry in Europe. There 
were also about four thousand foreign hirelings whom Philip 
intended to leave behind. 

The king made his farewell address to the estates of the 
provinces at a meeting at Ghent, Aug. 7, 1559. He professed 
deep love for the people and regret at leaving them, and asked 
for ^1,230,000 to be used for their benefit. He then pre¬ 
sented to them the new regent, whom he declared had great 
affection for the N^etherlands; and concluded by saying that, 
for the sake of religion and the glory of God, she would rigor¬ 
ously execute the laws against heretics. In reply, the depu¬ 
ties expressed the affection of the country for the king, and 
their willingness to devote not only their property but their 
lives to his service, and begged him to recall the foreign 
troops. A petition signed by the Prince of Orange, Count 
Egmont, and other great nobles, declared that these troops 
had committed such outrages that their presence had become 
unbearable. 

This petition made Philip so furious that he rushed away 
from the assembly, asking if he, too, as a Spaniard, was ex¬ 
pected to leave the Netherlands at once. Being in want of 
money, he soon changed his tone. He sent word to the 
states-general that the foreign troops were necessary to pro- 






1559 - Philip becomes Furious. 63 

tect the country, but that they should be withdrawn as soon 
as possible. He had, however, taken pains to instruct the 
authorities to have the decrees for burning, strangling, and 
burying alive heretics strictly enforced. The chief opponent 
of Philip’s policy was the Prince of Orange. Seeing him 
among the great personages who had assembled to witness 
his departure for Spain, the king accused William of defeat¬ 
ing his designs. On the prince replying that it was the work 
of the national states, the enraged monarch grasped his wrist 
and exclaimed insultingly, No, it was not done by the states, 
but by you, you, you ! ” 

William of Nassau, Prince of Orange, whom the king rec¬ 
ognized as the most powerful opponent of his despotic 
schemes, was then only twenty-two years of age, but he had 
already exhibited some of the traits which were to make 
him so famous and beloved as the saviour of his country. 
The prince belonged to a very ancient and noble family, 
which had become prominent in the middle of the eleventh 
century. The elder branch of the family gave an emperor 
to Germany, Adolph of Nassau ; and the younger, while re¬ 
taining a little dominion there, obtained the control of far 
greater estates and power in its adopted home, the Neth¬ 
erlands. P"our hundred years before the house of Burgundy 
had begun to rule in that country, the ancestors of William 
of Orange had been its sovereigns. One great member of 
the family had become distinguished in statesmanship and 
war under Charles the Bold and the Emperor Maximilian. 
Another was the intimate friend of Charles V., and secured 
for him the imperial crown. The principality of Orange came 
into the possession of the Nassau family by marriage; and 
Prince Rene of Nassau-Chalons, who succeeded to it early 
in the sixteenth century, dying without heirs, left his title 
and estates to William of Nassau, the son of his father’s 
brother, William. 


64 History of the Netherlands. 

When the future hero of the Netherlands thus became the 
ninth Prince of Orange in 1544, he was only eleven years 
old. He was fortunate in having a noble-minded and pious 
mother, Juliana of Stolberg; and besides seven sisters, he had 
five brothers, all of whom achieved distinction. The fond 
mother’s letters to her sons breathe a spirit of trust in God 
which show how much they owed to her devout teachings. 
William received his early education in the household of the 
Emperor Charles V., who had such a high opinion of his 
character and talents that he confided to him the most im¬ 
portant state secrets. Thus familiar with public affairs, the 
young prince showed so much wisdom and discretion that 
the emperor intrusted to him duties such as were usually only 
performed by veterans. Before he had reached the age of 
twenty-one, he was selected as general-in-chief of the army 
on the French frontier, a position coveted by many illustrious 
commanders. 

While in France as a hostage for the execution of the 
treaty of Gateau Cambresis, William was startled by hearing 
the plan of the Spanish and French kings for the massacre 
of the Protestants in their dominions. The Duke of Alva had 
been employed by Philip to attend to this matter, but Henry 
IL, supposing the prince to be in the secret, told him, when 
out hunting, that the Spanish troops in the Netherlands would 
be used in carrying out the plot. While listening patiently to- 
the dreadful scheme, William prudently said nothing to be¬ 
tray his abhorrence of it. He thus worthily gained the title 
of ‘Hhe Silent,” by which he is known in history. His 
knowledge of the use to which the Spanish regiments were 
to be put, incited those efforts for their removal which had 
so irritated Philip. Although himself a good Catholic, the 
prince could not bear to have virtuous Protestants destroyed 
on account of their religion. 

When the king sailed away to Spain, Aug. 26, 1559, William 


IS59* William of Orange. 65 

was twenty-six years of age and a widower. His wife, a 
wealthy heiress whom he had loved dearly, left him two 
daughters and a son. He had then little care for religious 
reformers, except to prevent them from being killed. Al¬ 
though he had warned some of these people of Philip’s plan 
of putting them to death, he made Protestants in his own do¬ 
minions obey the rules of the Catholic Church. It was an easy¬ 
going, pleasure-seeking life which he led at this time. He 
busied himself with all sorts of princely entertainments, feast¬ 
ing, hunting, and knightly sports, in the intervals of his public 
duties. He was particularly fond of hawking, and when in 
the country not a day passed that his trained birds of prey 
did not bring down a heron from the upper air. He 
confessed that his greatest difficulty was to reduce the ex¬ 
pense of this sport, which required the services of skilled 
falconers. 

His hospitality was unbounded, and he had kind words for 
every guest. Twenty-four noblemen and eighteen high-born 
pages were attendants in his household. So large was the 
number of his servants that in one day he dismissed twenty- 
eight trained cooks in order to lessen his expenses. Yet the 
round of feasting went on, rich viands and choice wines be¬ 
ing supplied in abundance. This sumptuous mode of living, 
which was partly due to his holding high offices, he could ill 
afford. His salary as general-in-chief was not enough to pay 
the servants in his tent. The two foreign missions which he 
undertook for Charles and Philip were at his own expense, 
and these, with his entertainments after the peace at Brussels, 
cost him about ^750,000. Fortunately, he had large rev¬ 
enues and claims upon the royal treasury to diminish his 
indebtedness. 

It seems strange that this man of high rank and luxurious 
tastes, who was, moreover, naturally cautious and even timid, 
should have become a heroic, self-sacrificing patriot. But 

5 


66 History of the Netherlands, 

his country’s trials brought out his best energies. His knowl¬ 
edge of history, insight into human nature, and mastery of 
Latin, French, German, Flemish, and Spanish, were of great 
help to him. He was aided also by a kind and cheerful 
disposition and a genial manner, and so far from being the 
‘‘ silent ” man that he is commonly called, he had a pleasant 
flow of talk and a fund of humorous illustration which made 
his society very delightful. 


CHAPTER V. 


THE INQUJSITION IN THE NETHERLANDS. 

The real ruler of the Netherlands was Anthony Perronet, 
Bishop of Arras, afterward Cardinal Granvelle. As chief of 
the secret council of three, he controlled the Regent Mar¬ 
garet. He was a very able and learned man, who knew just 
how to manage persons of high rank and narrow minds. 
His ability and unscrupulousness had made him useful to 
Charles V., and Philip soon yielded to his arts. He flattered 
the king with great tact, and understood his character so well 
that he was able to control while seeming to be controlled by 
him. As he despised the people and admired despots, he 
was fitted to attack the liberties of the Netherlands, but he 
liked to cover his bold designs with high-sounding words. 
Though rich, he was very greedy and wonderfully industrious. 
He could dictate with ease half a dozen letters at once, in 
half a dozen languages, while the writers were exhausted by 
their work. His appointment was odious to the Flemish 
nobles because he was a foreigner. Charles V. had always 
given high offices in the provinces to natives, but Philip was 
less prudent. 

Other causes of discontent prepared the Netherland 
grandees for revolt. The imperial wars, by increasing their 
fortunes, excited a reckless mode of living which had plunged 
them deeply into debt. They lavished immense sums on 
their palaces, attendants, equipages, banquets, and masquer¬ 
ades. Excessive drinking and gambling swelled the cost of 


68 History of the Netherlands. 

their splendid hospitality. Ev&n the Prince of Orange yielded 
to these jovial temptations. One of his companions was the 
rollicking Count Brederode, who was so fond of wine that he 
hated water as he did the Inquisition. The Flemish rivalled 
the German nobles, with whom they were intimate, in deep 
potations. In their wild revels the Netherland grandees 
fiercely uttered the thoughts which they had brooded over 
in their sober moments. They not only yearned to wrest 
their mortgaged estates from their low-born creditors, but to 
seize the broad domains of the Catholic Church. Even 
faithful adherents of the pope, favored turning the rich abbey 
lands on which lazy monks lived in luxury and vice, to mil¬ 
itary uses. But while the aristocracy longed to retrieve their 
desperate fortunes by revolt, the mass of the people were 
influenced by purer motives. Commercial intercourse, which 
had created their civil freedom, incited their hatred to priestly 
tyranny. The discovery of America and the invention of 
printing had enlarged men’s minds, and the Protestant Refor¬ 
mation had entered the provinces from France and Germany. 
The Netherlanders were now ready to suffer torture and death 
for religious liberty. 

By the advice of the Bishop of Arras, the edict of Charles 
V. against heresy had been re-enacted in the provinces 
when Philip came into power. This edict punished with 
death, by burning or burying alive, and confiscation of prop¬ 
erty, people who bought Protestant writings, taught, or talked 
about the Scriptures. Even persons steadily suspected of 
heresy, or failing to denounce heretics, were subject to these 
penalties. To make the execution of this edict more certain, 
new bishops were appointed in the Netherlands, and it was 
resolved to have the Spanish troops kept there indefinitely. 

There were certain charters called Hand-vestf because the 
sovereign made them fast with his hand, on which the Neth¬ 
erlanders relied for the preservation of their liberties. These 


CARDINAL GRANVELLE. 















1560. 


Cardinal Granvelle. 


71 


charters provided that no native could be convicted except 
in the open courts of justice j that no foreigners should be 
appointed to office; and that if the king broke these agree¬ 
ments, his subjects should be no longer bound to him. The 
strongest of these charters was called the “Joyous Entrance.” 

The Prince of Orange was foremost in opposing the new 
bishoprics as being a cover for the cruel Spanish Inquisition. 
He also refused to remain in command of the foreign troops. 
These were at last withdrawn from fear of a general revolt. 
Their outrages had so incensed the bold Zealanders that they 
refused to repair their dykes, preferring to be engulfed by 
the ocean than to endure longer the presence of the hated 
foreigners. 

The Bishop of Arras, having been made Cardinal Granvelle, 
became more and more grasping. His bland insolence 
enraged the haughty Egmont. The unlettered soldier, who 
traced his descent from the Frisian king, Radbod, despised the 
learned but low-born churchman. In one of their quarrels 
the count drew his dagger upon the cardinal in the regent’s 
presence. Although Orange had become intimate with the 
wily prelate, who admired his genius, he rebelled against his 
attempt to control the government of Antwerp. The two 
nobles soon complained to the king of his despotic minister, 
but this only excited Granvelle’s bitter enmity to them and 
Count Horn, who had been equally outspoken against him. 
In fact, Philip was only prevented by lack of means from 
enforcing still more severe measures in the Netherlands. 

William of Orange, who had suspected the king and Car¬ 
dinal Granvelle of double dealing in defeating his intended 
marriage with a daughter of the Duchess of Lorraine, soon 
after selected for his second wife the Princess Anna of Sax¬ 
ony, whose father, the famous elector, had been shot in 
battle seven years before. Though rich and noble, she not 
only lacked personal beauty, but was somewhat lame; besides. 


72 


History of the Netherlands, 


she had a very violent temper. She was but sixteen years of 
age^ while William was twenty-eight. The fact of her being 
a Protestant and the prince a Catholic made some of her rel¬ 
atives strongly oppose the match. Another serious difficulty 
was that her father had been the steadfast enemy of Philip’s 
father, and that the prince had been his trusted favorite. 
For these contrary reasons the marriage was opposed by tiie 
king, and by the Landgrave of Hesse, grandfather of the 
princess, who had been imprisoned by Charles V. She, how¬ 
ever, was so captivated by Orange on his first visit that she 
exclaimed defiantly, ‘‘What God had decreed, the Devil 
should not hinder.” 

Fortunately for William’s plans, the Elector Augustus of 
Saxony, uncle and guardian of the bride, was in favor of the 
union. Despite the opposition of the other Protestant rulers, 
the marriage was arranged. Orange artfully allaying the elec¬ 
tor’s religious scruples, yet promising the bigoted Philip that 
the bride should live as a Catholic. 

On Sunday, the 24th of August, 1561, the ill-fated St. Bar¬ 
tholomew’s day, the ancient town of Leipsic witnessed the 
brilliant ceremonies attending the wedding. The King of 
Spain, who, like the King of Denmark, was represented by a 
special ambassador, sent a present of a ring worth three 
thousand crowns to the bride. Many princes and bishops 
were present. The Elector of Saxony, who acted as host, 
rode forth to meet the bridegroom at the head of four thou¬ 
sand gayly dressed attendants. The Prince of Orange was 
accompanied by one thousand horsemen. Although houses 
and provisions were furnished for the noble guests, they had 
to bring their own cooks and butlers, and also silver dishes 
and kitchen utensils. At the dinner which the elector gave 
daily at the town-house to the sovereigns, high-born youths 
acted as waiters. They were instructed not to drink wine, 
or behave rudely during the entertainment. 



VIEW OF PORTE 



































































































1561 . The htquisition in the Netherlands. 75 

The marriage took place in the great hall of the town- 
house, and was followed by a banquet and ball. A grand 
procession accompanied the bridal pair the next day to the 
church, for the minister’s blessing. For three, days more 
there were gay revels, which included tournaments and other 
knightly sports, and masquerades with superb costumes, 
merry dances and fine music. These masquerades, or 
“ mummeries,” had been brought by the Prince of Orange 
from the Netherlands, at the request of the elector. 

There was a contrivance that Philip now resolved to use 
in the Netherlands, to get rid of heresy. This was called 
the Inquisition, from the inquiry which it made into people’s 
religious belief. If this belief was not satisfactory to the in¬ 
quisitors, they severely punished the persons who were guilty 
of holding it. Burning alive was the favorite method em¬ 
ployed. Heresy was regarded as a vile weed, to be rooted 
out and cast into the fire. As disbelievers in Catholicism 
were doomed to eternal damnation, bigots thought it a sacred 
duty to kill them, in order to prevent the spread of unbelief. 
They thus hoped to escape endless torment, and gain rich 
reward in heaven.^ Strange to say, it was not a cruel but a 


1 It would be a mistake to suppose that religious persecution was confined 
to the Catholic Church. Wherever the Protestant clergy had this power they 
exercised it, and although their bigotry was not so bloody as that of their oppo¬ 
nents, it was no less hearty and sincere. See the chapter on Persecution, in 
Lecky’s “History of Rationalism in Europe.” New York: 1866. The phi¬ 
losophy of the subject has been ably presented by John Fiske, in the “North 
American Review’’for January and April, 1881. “As the persecuting spirit 
grew among the Catholics,” says Froude, “ European Protestantism assumed a 
stronger and a sterner type. The Catholic, on the authority of the Church, 
made war upon spiritual rebellion. The Protestant believed himself commis¬ 
sioned, like the Israelites, to extinguish the worshippers of images. ‘ No mercy 
to the heretics ’ was the watchword of the Inquisition ; ‘ The idolaters shall die ’ 
was the answering thunder of the disciples of Calvin ; and as the death-wrestle 
spread from land to land, each party strove to outbid the other for Heaven’s 
favor by the ruthlessness with which they carried out its imagined behests.” 
“ History of England,” vol. x. p. 393. 


y 6 History of the Netherlands, 

kind ruler, Queen Isabella, grandmother of Charles V., who 
set in motion that most terrible engine of human tyranny, 
the Spanish Inquisition. It was at first used against Jews 
and Moors, but was soon directed against Christian disbe¬ 
lievers in Catholicism. Under the administration of the 
Dominican monk Torquemada, Isabella’s early confessor, a 
hundred and fourteen thousand families were destroyed by 
this dreadful instrument of persecution. 

The Inquisition had been strengthened in the Netherlands 
by Charles V., and its success in destroying heresy in Spain 
led his son, on coming to the throne, to expect an equal 
triumph in the provinces. Philip was unable to perceive 
the differences between the two countries which were des¬ 
tined to defeat his scheme. The crusades against the Turks, 
and the persecution of the Jews and Moors, had made Spain 
a hot-bed of religious fanaticism ; and the range of the Pyre¬ 
nees, as well as mountains of national pride and prejudice, 
barred the entrance of liberal ideas from the outside world. 
But the Netherlands, being near the heart of Europe, and 
inhabited by a free commercial people, were open to all the 
reforming influences of the age. The consequence was that 
they revolted against Philip’s tyranny, and the main cause of 
their revolt was the Inquisition. 

The papal form of this institution, thus introduced, lacked 
the solemn mystery and pomp of the Spanish system, but it 
was equally merciless. Secret machinery was not needed to 
detect heresy in the provinces, for there was little attempt at 
concealment. Officers of the law were bound under terrible 
penalties to obey the inquisitors. There was also an In¬ 
quisition of bishops, and the dreadful edicts were all-potent 
in punishing heretics. Yet their dauntless courage defeated 
the plans of their persecutors. 

The most cruel of the Netherland inquisitors was one 
Peter Titelmann, who took pleasure in torturing, strangling, 


1561. Cruelties of the hiquisitioii. 

and burning persons whom he suspected of heresy. In 
fact, he used to joke about there being no danger in his 
work, because he seized only innocent people whom he 
could lead like sheep to the slaughter. He had one man, a 
tapestry weaver, burned alive simply for having copied some 
hymns from a book printed in the Protestant city of Geneva. 
Another man, convicted of being that worst of heretics, an 



BURNING OF THE HERETICS. 


Anabaptist, was hacked to death with a rusty sword before 
the eyes of his wife, who was so horrified that she fell dead 
on the spot. A velvet manufacturer, who had snatched the 
consecrated wafer from the hands of a priest in the Cathedral 
of Tournay, and trampled it under his feet while ridiculing 
the Catholic idea of its being the body of Christ, was even 
more cruelly dealt with. Hot irons were used to bum and 
twist off his right hand and foot, his tongue was torn out 













yg History of the Netherlands. 

by the roots, and his body was then slowly roasted over a 
fire. This cruel Titelmann had formerly been a heretic him¬ 
self, and was now particularly anxious to show the govern¬ 
ment that he merited its approval. 

The charge made by an executioner for torturing a man 
was five sous or cents ; for burning him, sixty sous; and 
for throwing his ashes into the river, eight sous. It was 
almost impossible in those days for persons at all independent 
in their religious views to escape being punished as heretics, 
for their slightest words or acts were brought up against 
them. 

Many prominent Catholics in the Netherlands opposed the 
Inquisition, and if the king had not taken special pains to 
revive it, the horrible system would have gradually disap¬ 
peared. Granvelle’s efforts to enforce the wishes of his 
royal master provoked violent opposition from the people. 
They rushed upon the places of execution, scattered the 
fagots arranged for burning heretics, and rescued the poor 
victims. All this resistance only increased the cardinal’s 
zeal. He used troops to fill the prisons with suspected per¬ 
sons, and then beheaded and burned them at a fearful rate. 

One of the means of exciting public sentiment against 
Granvelle and the Church abuses was furnished by the 
‘^Rhetoric Chambers,” the name given to clubs of actors' 
and tradesmen, who performed farces and circulated satir¬ 
ical poems in the streets. As there were no newspapers in 
those days, these productions and the bold utterances of 
liberal preachers were the only means of influencing the 
people. The cardinal was very much irritated by these 
popular attacks, because they made him appear ridiculous. 
One day a paper was placed in his hand as if it were a 
petition. It proved to be a picture of himself, as a hen 
hatching a brood of young bishops, who were crawling out of 
their shells. Above the cardinal’s head was a figure of the 


1562. Oppositio 7 i to Graiivelle. 79 

Devil, from whose mouth issued these words, ‘‘ This is my 
beloved son, listen to him, my people.” 

Even some of the nobles indulged in practical jests at 
Granvelle’s expense. Two of them. Count Brederode and 
his cousin, Robert de la March, Lord of Lumey, who became 
prominent in the opening scenes of the great revolt, mas¬ 
queraded in priests’ robes, and wore fox tails in their hats, to 
show their resolve to hunt down the foxy cardinal and his 
associates. The tyrannical minister was also threatened with 
violence by other nobles, and therefore sought less exalted 
society. 

Philip, finding that the council in the Netherlands would 
not let the cavalry of the provinces be sent to fight the 
French king’s battles against his Protestant subjects, drew 
money from his sister, the regent, to pay for the substitution 
of Spanish troops. This act added to the universal feeling 
of hostility to his arbitrary policy; and as the regent had 
been forbidden by Philip to assemble the states-general, she 
called together the Knights of the Fleece in May, 1562. 
The result was so tame that Orange had a gathering of the 
knights at his house, which widened the breach between the 
supporters and opponents of the government. . The former 
accused the prince of aiming at supreme power in the prov¬ 
inces. As they refused to grant money for supplies to the 
king, and as the mission of Baron Montigny, sent to him by 
his sister, the regent, the following autumn, only resulted in 
showing that he was wholly controlled by Granvelle, the 
Prince of Orange decided to contest his power. Together 
with Counts Egmont and Horn, he wrote to Philip on the 
nth March, 1563, warning him of the danger of continuing 
the cardinal in authority. It was a very bold step for 
Orange, who saw, more clearly than his associates, the conse¬ 
quences of thus defying the power of the minister who was 
evidently acting as Philip wished. 


So History of the Netherlands, 

The king replied that as no reasons were given for the ad¬ 
vice, one of the writers had better come to Madrid and talk 
the matter over with him. This they declined to do; and as 
the regent dreaded the consequences of keeping the cardi¬ 
nal in the council, now that William the Silent and Counts 
Egmont and Horn had retired, she sent her private secretary 
to Philip to urge his removal. The fierce Duke of Alva ad¬ 
vised the king to destroy the three rebellious nobles. His 
plan was to lure Egmont by flattery away from the others. 
The terrible scheme was destined to be fatal to all but one of 
the intended victims. 

Meanwhile Granvelle had been writing to the king that the 
Prince of Orange and other leading nobles were plotting his 
own assassination and the destruction of the royal authority. 
The cardinal mistook the rising tide of popular fury for their 
movement of the waters. Being anxious to leave the Neth¬ 
erlands, he urged Philip to come and cure their troubles by 
simply making the sign of the cross. Orange also requested 
the king’s presence. He wished him to see for himself the 
falsity of the cardinal’s charges and the extent of his tyranny. 
But Philip hesitated about visiting the provinces, though he 
tried to make the people believe that he would soon come 
and heal their discontent with his royal touch. The crafty 
monarch had a favorite saying, Time and I are a match for 
any other two.” This reliance on time was fatal to his plans. 
It made him trifle with serious difficulties till they had got 
beyond his control. And so the troubles in the Netherlands 
drifted toward revolution. 

Near the close of the year 1563 there was a singular 
indication of the coming storm. Baron Grobbendonck, the 
king’s treasurer-general, gave a splendid dinner in Brussels to 
prominent nobles, at which Granvelle’s tyranny and pomp 
were condemned and ridiculed. Becoming excited by wine, 
some of the party projDosed to adopt a livery for their retain- 



6 


WILLIAM OF ORANGE, 


8 l 




1564. 


The FooVs-Cap Livery. 


83 


ers which should mock the cardinal’s display. It was resolved 
that the choice of the inventor of a symbol of contempt for 
the minister should be decided by a throw of the dice. The 
dangerous lot fell to Count Egmont. A few days afterward his 
servants appeared in a coarse gray dress with an emblem like 
a monk’s hood, or a fool’s cap, embroidered on the sleeve. 
This dress, which quickly became the fashion, was called the 
fool’s-cap livery. At the suggestion of the duchess, who 
thought the jest was being carried too far, the fool’s cap was 
changed to a bundle of arrows, or a wheat sheaf. Granvelle, 
while pretending not to care for the insult to himself, com¬ 
plained to the king that these new symbols meant a conspir¬ 
acy against the royal authority. Yet noblemen now wore this 
dress as well as their servants, and Egmont dined in it at the 
regent’s table after the minister’s departure. 

Philip at last removed the hated cardinal, on pretence of 
allowing him to make a visit to his mother, whom he had not 
seen for nineteen years. He left Brussels on the 13th of 
March. Orange felt sure that he would not be allowed to 
return, and a wag posted a placard on his palace with the 
inscription in large letters, ‘‘ For sale immediately. ’ With 
boyish delight at getting rid of their enemy, Brederode and 
Count Hoogstraaten both mounted one horse and galloped 
after his carriage. The adroit, unscrupulous minister, who 
had managed both the king and the regent, never came back 
to the Netherlands, though he long continued to use his influ¬ 
ence against them. “If the nobles caught him,” said one of 
his associates in the council, more than a year after his 
departure, “they would eat him.” 

William of Orange and Egmont and Horn, having received 
very friendly letters from the king, soon resumed their places 
in the council. So much corruption had grown up in the 
Netherlands that even the prince’s efforts for reform were said 
to be prompted by unscrupulous ambition. He was charged 


84 History of the Netherlands. 

with seeking to make the state council all-powerful, to control 
it himself, and to reduce the king to the condition of a Vene¬ 
tian doge. Meanwhile the anj^ieties of his position wore 
heavily on the thoughtful patriot. Though only thirty years 
of age, he had become careworn, thin, and sleepless. His 
face showed deep lines of trouble caused by his country’s 
wrongs. They say the prince is very sad,” wrote Morillon, 
the French ambassador, to Granvelle; and it is easy to 
read as much in his face. They say he cannot sleep.” 

There was a wretched fellow to whom the regent showed 
great favor, and who divided with her the profits of his shame¬ 
ful sales of public honors and offices. This was her private 
secretary, Armenteros, popularly called Argenteros, or man 
of silver. Orange was very indignant that this favorite should 
be consulted about important affairs of state. He could not, 
like the careless Egmont, put up with the scandalous conduct 
of the duchess, and was therefore in less favor at court. His 
colleagues in the council, Viglius and Berlaymont, the old 
supporters of Granvelle, were treated with contempt by the 
regent, who continually prejudiced Philip against them. 

Frightful persecutions of heretics still went on in the 
Netherlands. Titelmann’s cruelties roused the four estates 
of Flanders to appeal to the king to suppress these viola¬ 
tions of their chartered liberties. Philip, however, resolved 
to push measures to extremes against Protestants, and en¬ 
force the dreadful decrees of the Council of Trent. At last 
the regent selected Count Egmont to go to Spain and repre¬ 
sent the dangers of this course to him. William of Orange 
made a most stirring address in the council about ■ Egmont’s 
instructions. He insisted that the whole truth should be 
told to Philip, that the free Netherlands were resolved to 
maintain their ancient privileges, and that the corruption and 
oppression existing in the country must be done away with. 
The machinery of the Inquisition could be no longer borne, 


1565. Egmont's Mission to Spain. 85 

nor the decrees of the Council of Trent enforced in the prov¬ 
inces. As a Catholic himself, the prince denied the right of 
sovereigns to control the religious belief of their subjects. 
This vigorous speech made a deep impression, but Orange 
did not approve the choice of Egmont as envoy, or the in¬ 
structions given him. The* crafty Viglius was prevented from 
replying to the prince by a severe attack of apoplexy. His 
place in the council of state was temporarily taken by his 
learned but dull friend, Joachim Hopper. 

The count, who began his journey early in January, was 
escorted as far as Cambray by some of his noble friends. 
They had many gay feasts in the ancient city. At a banquet 
given to the party in the citadel, confusion was drunk to 
Granvelle, and the persecuting Archbishop of Cambray, after 
a conflict of wits, had a silver dish thrown at his head by 
one of the revellers. Though apologies were made for the 
insult, the archbishop was so unpopular that even friends 
of the government enjoyed his troubles. He soon after¬ 
ward ordered the execution of a Protestant convert who had 
asked permission to leave the country with his valuables. 
Before Egmont parted with Hoogstraaten, Brederode, and 
the rest, they signed an agreement with their blood to take 
vengeance on Granvelle or any one who should do harm to 
the count during his mission to Spain. Two of the signers 
of that petition, Noircarmes and Mansfeld, became cruel 
agents of Philip. 


CHAPTER VI. 


THE IMAGE-BREAKERS. 

Unfortunately Count Egmont was dazzled by the atten¬ 
tions which the king and his courtiers heaped upon him. He 
neglected the interests intrusted to his charge. It was found 
on his return home that Philip’s instructions were wholly un¬ 
like Egmont’s rose-colored view of his policy. The king 
proclaimed his resolve to crush out heresy by the terrible In¬ 
quisition. William of Orange, while vehemently opposing 
this policy, did not see the way clear for the council to diso¬ 
bey the king’s orders. He was not yet prepared to enter 
upon open rebellion. The inquisitors complained that the 
officers of the law would not aid them. At Philip’s sugges¬ 
tion, heretics, instead of being burned at the stake, were now 
secretly drowned at midnight in prison, to deprive them of 
the glory of public martyrdom. 

The proclamation of the Inquisition created a terrible com¬ 
motion in the Netherlands. The people were wild with fury. 
Business was generally suspended, and the great city of 
Antwerp was convulsed with dread. Prominent in oppo¬ 
sition to the outrage were the four principal cities of Brabant. 
They denounced it, in an address to the regent, as violating 
the liberties secured by that ancient constitution, the “Joyful 
Entrance.” On proof that the Inquisition had never existed 
in Brabant, that province was exempted from its operation 
by the privy council. Meantime, the popular excitement 
overflowed in satirical pamphlets and handbills, which were 
widely read. 



IMAGE-BREAKERS. 


87 









♦ 








1565. Notable Weddings. 89 

While gloom depressed the people at the close of the 
year 1565, two splendid weddings enlivened the spirits of the 
nobility. One of these weddings, that of Baron Montigny 
and the daughter of the Prince of Espinoy, is memorable 
from the tragic fate of the bridegroom soon afterward as a 
victim of Philip’s tyranny. In the splendid tournaments 
which celebrated these nuptials, the Prince of Orange, Counts 
Egmont, Horn, and Hoogstraaten, who all bore leading parts 
in the exciting scenes of the great revolt, were conspicuous. 
The other and still more magnificent wedding was that of 
Alexander, Prince of Parma, the son of the duchess, — whose 
generalship was, before long, to be displayed against the 
rebellious Netherlanders, — and the Princess Maria of Portu¬ 
gal. These marriage festivities enabled the nobles to confer 
on the alarming condition of affairs. 

On the day of Parma’s wedding, November ii, a number 
of them met at Culemburg Palace in Brussels, to listen to 
a sermon by Francis Junius, a young Protestant minister, 
whose arrest had been ordered by the government, on 
charge of inciting heresy. He was only twenty years of 
age, of a noble family, and so courageous that he had once 
preached the doctrines of the Reformation in a room lighted 
up by the fires which were burning several heretics in the 
market-place. At the close of the sermon, the attendant 
nobles resolved to form a league against the barbarous and 
violent Inquisition.” Their written agreement, which was 
called the Compromise, and appealed to patriotic Catholics as 
well as Protestants, acknowledged the sovereignty of Philip, 
but protested against its being made a cover for Spanish 
plunder and persecution. St. Aldegonde, an eminent and 
accomplished member of the old nobility, and Louis of 
Nassau, were prominent supporters of the Compromise. 

The Prince of Orange was not consulted about the league, 
as it was known that he and some other great nobles lacked 


90 History of the Netherlands. 

confidence in some of its leaders. Yet he had written warn¬ 
ings to the duchess of the danger of persisting in persecution. 
He also guarded the interests of the Netherlands by keeping 
close watch on the king. When Philip went to bed at night, 
the papers left in his pockets were taken out by one of his 
trusted officers, who made copies of them, which he sent to 
Orange. The letters locked up in the king’s desk were also 
copied by the same secret agent, employed by the Silent 
Prince to protect his country from the plots of its foreign 
rulers. 

The regent soon became alanned at the condition of the 
provinces, which were weakened by famine and emigration. 
Thousands of skilful artisans had transferred their homes and 
industries to the free soil of England. The nobles stood 
aloof from the government, and the people were becoming 
destitute and desperate. The Prince of Orange estimated 
that fifty thousand persons had been put to death in the 
provinces for their religion. He had so far united with the 
league as to sign a petition to the regent, the tone of which 
he softened, for the removal of the existing abuses. The 
confederate nobles, headed by the reckless Count Brederode, 
rode into Brussels in martial array amid applauding crowds, 
who welcomed them as deliverers of the country. They 
afterward marched to the council chamber, and petitioned 
the regent to send an envoy to the king to implore the abo¬ 
lition of the dreadful edicts. They also requested that the 
Inquisition should be suspended till his majesty’s reply was 
received. The duchess’ was so agitated by this appeal that 
she burst into tears. 

In the debate in the council on the petition, Berlaymont 
described the petitioners as beggars, and expressed surprise at 
the regent’s fears of them. This taunt was taken up by 
Count Brederode at a grand banquet at Culemburg House, 
April 8, 1566. ‘'They call us beggars !” said he; “let us 


, llllllj 



COUNT OF EGMONT. 


91 






















566. 


The BeggarsT 


93 


accept the name. We will contend with the Inquisition, but 
remain loyal to the king, even till compelled to wear the beg¬ 
gar’s sack.” He then placed a wallet, such as beggars then 
wore, round his neck, and filling a large wooden bowl, such 
as they carried, with wine, he shouted, after draining the 
contents, “ Long live the beggars ! ” This was the cry sc 
often heard during the bloody days which were soon to con¬ 
vulse the country. The wallet and bowl went the round ot 
the table, each noble, as his turn came, repeating the cry, 
Long live the beggars ! ” The watchword thus given them 
by their enemies proved of terrible power against the op¬ 
pressor. At the close of the ceremonies the wildest revelry 
prevailed. In the midst of it, the Prince of Orange and 
Counts Egmont and Horn entered the room and were obliged 
to drink to the cry. They persuaded the party to break up, 
and, although thanked for this service by the duchess, became 
objects of suspicion to the king for being in such company. 
The beggars’ ” dress, consisting of doublets, cloaks, and 
hose of coarse ashen gray cloth, was soon worn in the 
streets by the confederates. Lead or copper medals, with 
the head of Philip, and the motto, “ Faithful to the king, 
even to wearing the beggars’ sack,” were fastened round their 
necks or on their common felt hats. 

In mockery of the demands of the Netherlanders for 
relief from persecution, certain classes of heretics were granted 
the privilege of being beheaded or hanged instead of burned. 
As this edict was called the “ Moderation,” the common peo¬ 
ple ridiculed it as the “ Murderation.” Two envoys, Baron 
Montigny and Marquis Berghen, went to Spain to secure the 
withdrawal of this edict, not dreaming of the terrible fate 
that awaited them. 

The Protestants now boldly left their hiding-places and 
held religious meetings in the most public manner. Thou¬ 
sands of persons gathered in the fields to listen to their 


94 History of the Netherlands, 

appeals. In vain did the authorities remind the people that 
death was the penalty of attending these camp-meetings. 
The crowds went armed with arquebus, javelin, pike, and 
broadsword. The camps were barricaded with wagons, 
branches of trees, and planks, and were guarded by horsemen. 
Although the sale or purchase of hymn-books was also pun¬ 
ishable with death, they were freely bought and sold there. 

Alarmed at the growth of these gatherings, which had 
spread to the neighborhood of Amsterdam, the duchess 
ordered the magistrates of Antwerp to use the militia to dis¬ 
perse them. But the Protestants had become so numerous 
that, at the entreaty of both parties, the Prince of Orange went 
to Antwerp to preserve peace. His reception by the people 
was full of enthusiasm, the roads leading to the city being 
lined for miles with delighted crowds. He remained there 
a month, and his firm but temperate course prevented the 
dreaded outbreak. Though both the duchess and the Prot¬ 
estants disliked his views, they recognized him as the only 
person able to save the country. The prince was now doing 
everything in his power to make the king abandon his cruel 
and deceitful policy. 

There was a large and stormy gathering of the confederate 
nobles at St. Trond, July 13, 1566, which lasted through the 
month. To restore harmony Orange and Egmont met some 
of the leaders at Duffel on the i8th at the request of the 
duchess. She was astonished at the bold demands soon 
made at her council in Brussels by Louis of Nassau, the 
prince’s brother, and his twelve associates on the committee, 
who were jocosely called his twelve apostles. Yet they only 
urged that she should be guided in her treatment of the peo¬ 
ple by the advice of Horn, Egmont, and Orange, and should 
call a meeting of the states-general. On these conditions, 
and the assurance of their personal safety, the confederates 
were willing to make an effort to preserve peace. They 














1566. The Image-Breakers. 97 

hinted that they could rely on Germany as well as the 
provinces for aid. The duchess, after conferring with the 
state council, advised the king against accepting their terms. 
Though the confederates had inspired distrust by their riotous 
conduct, and by their undertaking to secure assistance from 
Germany, they only hastened the coming of the great revolt. 

The first outbreak of the storm came unexpectedly and 
with startling fury. It burst upon the great religious edifices, 
the magnificent churches and convents which the fanaticism 
of the Protestants identified with the abuses of Catholicism. 
The superb treasures of art and taste in these splendid struct¬ 
ures — paintings and statues and embroidery—were destroyed 
by a furious mob, as visible signs of that spirit of cruel perse¬ 
cution which had so long afflicted the provinces. For a 
whole week the destruction went on, and thus the contents 
of most of these edifices were swept away. The principal 
object of assault was the great cathedral of Antwerp, which 
was adorned with rich chapels and jewelled altars, beautifully 
painted windows, the escutcheons of the Golden Fleece, 
marble tombs, on which rested the recumbent images of 
mailed crusaders, and banners that had waved on historic 
battle-fields. At the request of the regent the Prince of 
Orange had gone to attend a meeting at Brussels, though he 
feared a tumult would break out in his absence. 

A slight occurrence hastened the outbreak. At the festival 
of the Ommegang, or Assumption, Aug. 18, 1566, a colossal 
image of the Virgin was borne in a grand procession about 
Antwerp. The rabble that followed the procession with ribald 
shouts, finding that they were not interfered with, continued 
their disturbance in the cathedral the next day. The image 
of the Virgin having been placed for safety behind an iron 
railing, it was jeered at by the vagabonds, who ordered it to 
join in their cry, “ Long live the beggars ! ” After roaming 
insolently about the church with his companions, a rough- 

7 


98 


History of the Netherlands. 


looking fellow in ragged clothes and an old straw hat, who 
appeared to be a mechanic, mounted to the pulpit and began 
burlesquing a Catholic preacher. Cheers and groans were 
uttered by the crowd, some of whom threw missiles at the 
fellow, while others vainly tried to pull him from the stand. 
At last a young sailor, who had got into the pulpit from be¬ 
hind, threw the mechanic headlong down the steps. A riot 
ensued, in which the friends of the sailor, being outnumbered, 
were severely pounded while taking him out of the church. 
The crowd were, however, removed from the temple without 
injury to its treasures. 

In the absence of the Prince of Orange the senate were 
afraid to protect the cathedral. Their neglect enabled the 
mob to enter the edifice the next morning to renew their 
howls and taunts at the image of the Virgin. Having dis¬ 
turbed an old woman who sold wax tapers, wafers, and other 
Catholic articles outside the church, she flung missiles at 
them. The rabble soon destroyed her wares, and created a 
tumult in the building, which ended in a furious onslaught 
upon its treasures with sledge-hammers, axes, and bludgeons. 
The image of the Virgin was dragged from its retreat, stripped 
of its rich garments, and shivered to pieces. Ladders and 
ropes were used to reach the works of art on the lofty walls. 
A marble figure of Christ crucified between the two thieves 
was pulled down from the high altar, the thieves being spared, 
as a spectator said, to preside over the work of rapine below. 
Arrayed in the rich vestments of the priests, the destroyers 
filled their golden cups with sacramental wine and drank it 
to the health of the beggars.” The sacramental bread was 
trodden under foot, and the holy oil with which kings and 
bishops had been anointed, was spread over the shoes of the 
spoilers. The work of destruction was complete ; yet, strange 
to say, it was done by no more than a hundred people, men, 
women, and boys. 



SACKING OF THE CATHEDRAL. 


99 




























































































































































1566. The Image-Breakers, lOi 

Long live the beggars ! ” was the cry of the mob as they 
rushed from the cathedral, torch in hand, to attack other 
sacred edifices in the city and neighboring villages. That 
night thirty churches were despoiled in Antwerp, and no less 
than four hundred were sacked in the single province of 
Flanders during the next few days. Monasteries and nun¬ 
neries also suffered severely. Their inmates fled, shrieking, 
from the rude invaders, who burned precious libraries, de¬ 
stroyed altars, pictures, and statues, and emptied casks of 
rich old wine into the gutters. It is remarkable that though 
the rioters belonged to the lowest classes of society, they 
not only refrained from violence to individuals, even while 
releasing prisoners from monkish dungeons, but from robbery. 
They seemed unwilling to appropriate valuables which repre¬ 
sented the hated system of persecution.^ 

The outrages were denounced by the Protestant leaders as 
well as by William of Orange, as disgracing a sacred cause. 
The regent was so terror-stricken that she prepared to flee 
from the city. Philip was furious at the news of the image¬ 
breaking. He tore his beard and cried, It shall cost them 
dear ! I swear it by the soul of my father ! ” In her alarm 
the duchess yielded to the demands of the Protestants. On 
the 25th of August, 1566, she signed an agreement with 
leading Leaguers, by which freedom of worship was granted 
where it had already been exercised, on condition that they 
should aid in preserving the public peace, and in maintaining 
the king’s authority. As this ^‘Accord,” as it was called, 
abolished the Inquisition, it was hailed with joy throughout 
the country. 

1 The image-breakers belonged to the Calvinist sect of Protestants, forming 
the majority of the so-called “ Reformers.” Their violence injured the national 
cause by alienating its Catholic supporters. The nobles and clergy who had 
condemned Philip’s new bishoprics were now led to support the government. 
The Lutherans also became more opposed to the rival Protestant sect. 


CHAPTER VII. 


PHILIPS DECEITFUL POLICY, 

While the king pretended to be kindly disposed towards 
his subject provinces, he was slowly preparing to over¬ 
whelm them. Even before he had heard of the image¬ 
breaking, he had planned to restore the Inquisition, in 
violation of his promises to Berghen and Montigny, the two 
ill-fated envoys from the provinces. Neither he nor the 
regent scrupled to break agreements with heretics. She 
wrote that nobles like Orange, Egmont, Horn, and Hoog- 
straaten had forced her to agree to the demands of the rebels. 
Meanwhile, Egmont was cruelly suppressing heresy and 
hanging image-breakers in Flanders, and Horn was trying to 
execute the “Accord” in Tournay. But though a sincere 
Catholic, the admiral was soon recalled by the duchess, 
who was secretly preparing to crush the Protestants. In 
disgust at this treatment, he retired from her service. While 
William the Silent enforced religious toleration in the principal 
cities under his rule, he had small hopes of peace, for he 
knew the king’s bigoted and revengeful nature. 

As soon as she had the power, the duchess began to 
suppress the reformed religion. Her agent was the Lord of 
Noircarmes, a fierce Flemish soldier, who had told her the 
false stories about William of Orange. He was one of the 
nobles who had sworn to avenge any injuries to Egmont. 
The important city of Tournay surrendered to him within an 
hour and a half after his summons, this being the utmost time 









I 


J 


1566. Isolation of the Silent Prince, 105 

granted the garrison. He told the magistrates that if they 
had waited a minute longer, he should have burned the city 
to ashes and killed all the inhabitants. The duchess con¬ 
tinued to prejudice Philip against Orange and other nobles, 
while assuring them of her confidence and good-will. The 
prince, who saw through all this deception, believed the time 
had come to choose between the sacrifice of his country 
and himself to a tyrant, and arming the people for resistance. 
He therefore had a meeting with Horn, Egmont, Hoogstraaten, 
and Louis of Nassau, to consider the best course to pursue. 
The result of the conference between the five nobles was 
that Orange was left without support for his plan of resist¬ 
ance. Egmont, in his blind loyalty to the king, and Horn, 
in his sullen seclusion, were to fall into Philip’s cruel clutches 
at last. Had they profited by William’s warnings they would 
probably have escaped. If Egmont had united with him, 
they could have raised soldiers enough to free the country. 
Left alone, with no one able to understand his views, the 
prince could do nothing but watch and wait. His spies still 
read the secret papers of the king while he slept. This 
was his only means of baffling the tyrant. Late in the year 
1566 he made one more appeal to the royal government, in 
a pamphlet which modestly and moderately set forth the need 
of letting the Netherlanders have some religious freedom. 
This was lost on the besotted rulers, who, feeling their 
strength restored, were bent on subjugating the country. 

The first attack was made on the ancient city of Valen¬ 
ciennes, which had refused to receive a garrison of Spanish 
troops. Encouraged by the advice of the Prince of Orange, 
the city held out bravely against Noircarmes, who, with his 
six officers, made such slow progress that they were ridiculed 
as the Seven Sleepers. But they proved only too wide-awake 
for the besieged, who at last surrendered to Noircarmes, whom 
Egmont aided in reducing the city. In violation of his 


io6 History of the Netherlands. 

agreement-, the cruel general allowed his soldiers to rob and 
murder the inhabitants at their pleasure. 

Meanwhile, William of Orange had been urged by the 
regent to assist her in putting down the noisy conspiracies 
of the ‘‘great beggar,” Brederode; but the prince felt he 
had done enough of .that kind of work. Being required to 
take a slavish oath of allegiance, he not only refused, but 
resigned all his government offices. In gratitude for his 
services in restoring peace in the old Batavian provinces, the 
estates of Holland offered him a gift of twenty-five thousand 
dollars ; but, although in need of money, he refused to accept 
it, lest people should question his patriotism. The duchess 
had now broken her promise to allow Protestants in Holland, 
whose fields were flooded in winter, to have preaching in 
warehouses and dockyards. 

As Brederode’s warlike measures in Antwerp and Holland 
were supposed to be intended for the relief of Valenciennes, 
the regent allowed Lannoy, commander of her body-guard 
in Brussels, to attack the “ great beggar’s ” confederates, who 
had intrenched then^^elves within a mile of Antwerp. The 
disciplined soldiers of Lannoy easily routed the horde of 
rebels, who outnumbered them four to one. Their leader, 
Mamix of Tholouse, a gallant young nobleman, who had left 
college to fight for religious liberty, was killed and his body 
hacked to pieces. The retreating rebels were cut down 
without mercy, and some six or eight hundred, who had taken 
refuge in a farm-house, were burned alive or shot. 

The long fight and butchery had been witnessed by thou¬ 
sands of people from the tops of buildings in Antwerp. As 
the defeated rebels neared the city on the 13th of March, vast 
numbers of excited Protestants went to their rescue with 
pikes, lances, swords, battle-axes, and even sledge-hammers. 
A disastrous conflict seemed inevitable, and was only pre¬ 
vented by the courage of William of Orange, He cared 


1567- Noble Services of Orange. 107 

nothing for the king’s cause, but felt bound to protect the 
vast population and wealth of Antwerp. Spurring his horse to 
the Red Gate, he boldly faced the furious mob at the peril 
of his life. The fanatical Protestants jeered at him as the 
pope’s hireling. One man aimed an arquebus at his breast, 
and exclaimed, “ Die, treacherous villain ! ” Fortunately, the 
deadly weapon was struck down by one of the crowd. 

Undaunted by the tumult, the prince succeeded in satisfy¬ 
ing most of the rebel sympathizers of the folly of venturing 
outside the walls. He then labored to prevent the excited 
Protestants from destroying the property and lives of the 
Catholics. His great courage and wisdom kept the armed 
bodies of hostile Lutherans, Catholics, and Calvinists from a 
conflict which would have laid waste the whole city. The 
crisis lasted for two days, and was ended by a compromise 
between the Lutherans and Catholics, which the outnum¬ 
bered Calvinists were forced to accept. By availing him¬ 
self of the mutual hatred of the two Protestant sects, William 
the Silent saved Antwerp from a terrible fate. His effective 
appeals to the Calvinists ended with their repeating his 
exclamation, “ God save the king ! ” It was the last time 
he ever uttered these words, and even then the merciless 
Philip had doomed him to death. 

The capture of Valenciennes was followed by the submis¬ 
sion of the other cities which had refused to receive the 
royal garrisons. Even Antwerp surrendered when William 
the Silent had left it. Encouraged by this success, Philip 
resolved to crush .the Netherlands, and rule them from Mad¬ 
rid. The former tyrant of the country. Cardinal Granvelle, 
had suggested this plan, and the Duke of Alva, the famous 
Spanish general, was selected to carry it out. Margaret of 
Parma was enraged at thus being deprived of her authority, 
but she got only a rebuke from Philip for her complaints. 

William of Orange, who had resisted the entreaties of the 


io8 History of the Netherlafids. 

regent to take the new oath of allegiance, now resolved to 
leave the Netherlands. He felt that he could serve his 
country best at a safe distance. Before he went away, he 
tried to save his old friend, Egmont, whom he knew had, like 
himself, been doomed to death by the king. But that no¬ 
bleman was blinded by a belief in the royal clemency. 
‘^Alas! Egmont,” said the prince sadly, ^Hhe king’s clem¬ 
ency, of which you boast, will be your ruin. You are to be 
the bridge which the Spaniards will destroy as soon as they 
have passed over it to invade our country.” Having vainly 
tried to convince the count of the terrible danger that threat¬ 
ened him, and to win him back to the glorious cause of his 
country’s freedom, William of Orange threw his arms tenderly 
about the gallant but misguided soldier and gave him a fond 
embrace. They were both moved to tears at this their last 
farewell. 

While formally announcing to the king his intention of 
going to Germany, the prince offered to devote himself to the 
true service of his majesty. He left Antwerp upon the nth 
of April, for his family seat at Dillenberg. By this act he 
saved his life. His secret agent, who was no other than 
Vandenesse, the king’s private secretary, wrote to him that 
Alva had been instructed to arrest him at once, and not to 
let his trial last more than twenty-four hours. Before his 
departure Orange sent solemn warnings to Counts Egmont 
and Horn, who, however, were both blind to their approach¬ 
ing fate. Egmont was completely lulled to security by a 
treacherous letter of praise and confidence which he had 
just received from the king. 

The prince’s departure cast deep gloom over the Nether¬ 
lands. The cruel persecutions of suspected persons forced 
thousands of industrious workmen to leave the country, 
which was rapidly becoming desolate. Yet Philip was angry 
that the duchess had not made the new edict still more com¬ 
prehensive in its cruelty. 


CHAPTER VIII. 


ALVA IN THE NETHERLANDS. 

In his plan of subduing the Netherlands by force of arms, 
the king had two objects in view. One was to destroy heresy, 
and the other to fill his empty treasury. The reason why the 
scheme had not been executed before, was the extreme slow 
ness of Philip’s actions. But the warlike Alva now prevailed 
in his councils over the peaceful Ruy Gomez, Prince of 
Eboli. An army of ten thousand picked soldiers was there¬ 
fore assembled. The selection of a commander was most 
suitable. Ferdinand Alvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alva, had 
won the highest military reputation in Europe by his study 
and practice of the art of war, which in those days was more 
valued than any other. He had distinguished himself in 
battle at sixteen, and was now in his sixtieth year. He had 
fought for the Emperor Charles V. against the Turks and the 
Tunisians, and had achieved the most brilliant victories in 
Germany. Though his later services to Philip had been 
dimmed by the splendid triumphs of his rival, Egmont, he 
was now in a position to eclipse and destroy him. As a gen¬ 
eral, he was energetic but cautious, but he lacked adminis¬ 
trative capacity, and his private character was stained with 
ferocity and avarice. He was haughty and overbearing in 
manner, and despised criticisms on his military movements. 
Tall, thin, and straight in body, he had a small head, black, 
bristling hair, dark gleaming eyes, a long, yellow, parched 
face, and a flowing iron-giay beard. 


no History of the Netherlands» 

In their engraved or gilded armor, the troops of Alva, 
carrying muskets, a weapon then used for the first time, 
made a very brilliant appearance as they landed in the Neth¬ 
erlands in August, 1567. He had written to the regent, who 
had tried to keep him away, that he came to crush, not to 
conciliate the people, whom he scornfully styled “men of 
butter.” Egmont rode out with some noble friends to re¬ 
ceive the new ruler, and took with .him a present of two 
beautiful horses. “ Here comes the greatest of all the 
heretics,” said the duke on his approach. After this rude 
greeting, Alva made other spiteful remarks, but soon dissem¬ 
bling, put his arm fondly round the neck of the man whom 
he had resolved to destroy. The captain-general’s reception 
by the duchess was cold and formal, and his coming fell like 
a blight on the principal cities, which were obliged to deliver 
up their keys to him. The country was deserted by all who 
were able to escape. 

Before subduing the provinces and enforcing the Inquisi¬ 
tion and the edicts, it was necessary to destroy the great 
nobles. To prevent their taking alarm and leaving the Neth¬ 
erlands, kind messages were sent to Orange, Egmont, and 
Horn. The letter to Egmont was written by the king, after 
Alva had been sent to crush him and the country. William 
the Silent, who saw through the whole scheme, while sa\ing 
himself, vainly tried to save his friends. Egmont had re¬ 
ceived numerous warnings, but his blind loyalty made him 
disregard them. Yet anxiety turned his hair white before he 
was forty-six years old, and he always slept with pistols under 
his pillow. Meanwhile, Alva kept deceiving him with kind 
words, and sent him quantities of Spanish and Italian fruit. 
By similar cunning, Philip Montmorency, Count of Horn, 
was induced to leave his retirement and place himself in the 
power of his enemies. 

The last warning which Egmont received came from 



DUKE OF ALVA. 


Ill 




i 


I 


i 





I 




1567. Arrest of Egmont and Horn. 113 

Alva’s own son, Don Ferdinand de Toledo, Grand Prior of 
the Knights of St. John. It was at a splendid banquet given 
by him to Egmont, Horn, Noircarmes, the Viscount of Ghent, 
and other noblemen, on the 9th of September. During the 
entertainment, an invitation was received from Alva for the 
company to come to his house after dinner, to examine the 
plans of the proposed citadel at Antwerp. The grand prior 
at once whispered to Egmont, who sat next to him, “ Leave 
instantly ! Take your fleetest horse and 'escape without a 
moment’s delay.” This warning of the noble-hearted Span¬ 
iard had such an effect on Egmont that he left the table and 
went into the next room. Being followed by Noircarmes 
and two other gentlemen, to whom he explained the cause of 
his agitation, the crafty commander told him that his flight 
would be a confession of guilt and would excite suspicion of 
treason. The count was thus led to change his mind and 
attend the council at Alva’s house. As soon as it broke up, 
the duke, who had received Egmont very cordially, had him 
arrested and imprisoned in a darkened room hung with 
black and only lighted by candles. The Spanish soldiers on 
guard allowed him no communication with his friends. After 
being kept in this gloomy confinement for two weeks, he and 
Count Horn, who had been subjected to the same treatment, 
were imprisoned in the Castle of Ghent. 

The news of these and other important arrests filled the 
Netherlands with terror. If such a great Catholic noble and 
gallant soldier as Egmont could excite the king’s enmity, 
there seemed to be no safety for humbler persons. Mean-' 
while the duchess, who was irritated by Alva’s insolence, got 
credit with the people for sympathy with them. A lucky 
accident, which detained the Count of Hoogstraaten at Co¬ 
logne, saved him from the fate of his noble friends. 

The king was delighted with Alva’s arrests, but Cardinal 
Granvelle, who had advised them, feigned surprise, though 

8 


114 History of the Netherlands, 

lamenting the escape of Orange. His capture,” said the 
foxy prelate, would have been of more value than that of 
every man in the Netherlands. If the duke has not caught 
the Silent One, he has caught nothing.” 

The Marquis of Berghen, one of the two Catholic envoys 
from the provinces, had died under suspicious circumstances 
in Spain, soon after Alva’s departure, and there were reports 
that he was poisoned. This seems probable from the subse¬ 
quent secret execution of his associate, Baron Montigny, by 
the king’s orders. The insidious treachery of Philip was shown 
in the instructions which he gave to the Prince of Eboli, who 
visited the marquis in his last illness, — to comfort him if he 
was certain to die, with the hope of returning to the Nether¬ 
lands ; and in case of his death to confiscate his property and 
seize his two young relatives, who were about to be married, 
on suspicion of heresy. 

Soon after the arrest of Egmont and Horn, Alva established 
a new court for the trial of the recent offences against the 
royal authority. Originally called the Council of Troubles, 
the more appropriate name of Council of Blood was soon 
applied to it. This tribunal, which had sole charge of trea¬ 
sonable offences, was created by the duke to crush out the 
liberties of the people. Death was inflicted on all persons 
who had opposed persecution, or questioned the right of the 
king to do as he pleased with the provinces. Within three 
months after the establishment of this dreadful court, it de¬ 
stroyed eighteen hundred of the noblest and best people in 
the Netherlands. Yet this all-powerful council was wholly 
under the control of Alva, the only two members of it who 
had the right of voting, being Spaniards and bound by his 
final decision. Thus the court was only a means of enabling 
the duke to wreak his vengeance on persons against whom 
no crimes could be legally proved. Its chief was a wretch 
named Vargas, who enjoyed bloodshed so much that he 



1567. The Council of Blood. 115 

joked about the sacrifices. On one man’s case being called 
for trial, it was found that he had been already executed. 
Further inquiry showed that he was not guilty, but had been 
swept away with other victims of a horrible haste. “No 
matter for that,” said Vargas, with grim humor, “ it will be all 
the better for him when he takes his trial in another world.” 
It was remarked that this man’s grammar was as barbarous 


TORTURE OF PROTESTANTS. 

as his cruelty. Another member of the council, a Fleming 
named Hessels, was such a tool in his hands that he used to 
go to sleep while the trials were going on. When awakened 
to give his opinion, he would rub his eyes and exclaim, “ To 
the gallows with him ! To the gallows with him ! ” though 
wholly ignorant of the case or even the victim’s name. Hes- 
sels’s wife warned him that he might be hanged himself some 
day, and her fear proved well founded. 




















Ii6 History of the Netherlmids, 

As the Council of Blood was chiefly designed to get money 
for the Spanish government, the rich were especially in dan¬ 
ger from it. Alva had promised Philip a yearly income of 
five hundred thousand dollars, from the confiscation of the 
property of its victims. The prisoners were tried and exe¬ 
cuted in crowds, and the most absurd reasons were given for 
the sacrifice of the innocent. One man was beheaded be¬ 
cause, in a city riot, he had persuaded a member of the mob 
not to fire at a magistrate. This was enough to convict him 
of being a person of authority among the rebels. Two women 
were drowned in a hogshead, because one of them had struck 
a little wooden image of the Virgin with her slipper, while the 
other, who saw this act of her mistress, did not rebuke it. 

Under this wholesale butchery, the Netherlands became 
a scene of sorrow and desolation. Death had thinned 
the flower of the population; the corpses of Alva’s victims 
were everywhere visible. The people submitted hopelessly 
to the destruction which it was impossible to escape. Silence 
and darkness brooded over the great cities, which were once 
alive with the hum of cheerful and prosperous industry. 

These horrors made even the iron rule of the Duchess of 
Parma seem gentle. Irritated by neglect, she was glad to 
leave the country. Philip professed himself grateful for her 
services, and provided her with a liberal allowance ; and, what 
was more remarkable, the states of Flanders and Brabant 
made her a present of twenty-eight thousand dollars. Soon 
after writing her farewell letter of the 9th of December, she 
left the Netherlands. It seems strange that she should have 
advised the king to be merciful to the people whom she had 
persecuted, yet should have done nothing to save the lives 
of the nobles who had obeyed her orders. This was no 
doubt due to the paralyzing effect of evil counsels upon her 
yielding disposition. 

In order to aid the French king, Charles IX., against his 



WILD BEGGARS, 






















1568. 


Tyranny of Alva. 


19 


Protestant subjects, who had successfully rebelled against his 
tyranny, Alva sent troops to Paris, officered by a number of 
Netherland nobles. He also completed the fortifications of 
the principal cities of the provinces, so as to have them wholly 
under his control. The most important of these works was 
the famous citadel of Antwerp, a huge fortress, built at a cost 
of seven hundred thousand dollars, and boastfully inscribed 
with his name, titles, and coat-of-arms. A quarter of this 
sum was forced from the inhabitants of the great city which 
the citadel was constructed to overawe. 

On the 19th of January Alva summoned the Prince of 
Orange, his brother Louis of Nassau, his brother-in-law. Count 
Van den Berg, Count Hoogstraaten, Count Culemburg, 
and the Baron Montigny, before the Council of Blood. 
Though neglect of the summons doomed them to perpetual 
banishment and the loss of their property, the nobles were 
too shrewd to invite death by obeying it. dffie Prince of 
Orange was charged with being the leader of the rebellion, 
which he was said to have caused by falsely saying that the 
Spanish Inquisition was to be set up in the provinces. He 
was also accused of trying to make himself ruler of the 
country, and of secretly aiding the confederate nobles, en¬ 
couraging heresy, and granting religious freedom to Protes¬ 
tants. Similar charges were made against the other noblemen. 
In his reply, the prince denied the right of Alva and his 
court to try him. Being a Knight of the Golden Fleece, 
only the members of that order could act as his judges. He 
expressed his willingness, however, to appear before them or 
before the members of the German empire. 

Soon after this summons to the prince, Alva’s emissaries 
entrapped his eldest son, the Count of Buren, a boy of thir¬ 
teen, and induced him to go to Spain, where he was kept for 
thirty years. So changed did he become under the gloomy 
training of his captors, that when he came back to the Neth- 


120 History of the Netherlands. 

erlands he seemed to have lost all the noble qualities of his 
family. 

Notwithstanding the numerous appeals to the Council of 
Blood for mercy, massacres went on at a fearful rate. At last 
a most frightful decree of the Inquisition was issued. This 
order, which was dated Feb. i6, 1568, condemned all the 
inhabitants of the Netherlands to death as heretics. Only 
a small number of persons were excepted from the sentence, 
which, in a few words, doomed three million people to de¬ 
struction. The king ordered this fearful death-warrant to be 
instantly executed. His object was to enable the government 
to secure its victims without trouble. The rich were destroyed 
for the sake of their property, and the poor for any reason 
that occurred to the persecutors. A new contrivance was 
arranged, to prevent victims going to execution from address¬ 
ing the people. Each prisoner’s tongue was forced through 
an iron ring, and then burnt with a hot iron, swelling it so 
that speech was impossible. These cruelties naturally in¬ 
cited the ruffianism of society against the Catholics and 
monks. Bands of robbers calling themselves the Wild Beg¬ 
gars roamed the country, plundering religious houses and 
mutilating priests. 

After two months of imprisonment at Ghent, the Counts 
Egmont and Horn were subjected to the mockery of a trial. 
Questions were put to them by members of the Council of 
Blood, for the purpose of confusing their minds and making 
them appear guilty. The papers found in their houses, and 
those of their secretaries, one of whom was tortured to make 
him confess, were searched for evidence against them. They 
were then imprisoned for another two months, and at last, in 
spite of remonstrances from the Knights of the Fleece, the 
estates of Brabant, and a personal letter from the Emperor of 
Germany to Philip, their fate was sealed. The wife of Eg¬ 
mont, and the mother of Horn, did their utmost to obtain 


1568 


bmoceiice of the Counts 


121 


justice for them, but in vain. Even the offences against 
Cardinal Granvelle, the fool’s cap, the livery, were declared 
treasonable; and the cry, “ Long live the beggars ! ” was made 
fatal to its high-born hearers, who had drunk a glass of wine 
to them and tlie king at the Culemburg House banquet. 
The graver accusations of aiding rebellion were wholly un¬ 
founded. Deprived of the free use of advocates, prevented 
from seeing the evidence against them, and of producing 
testimony in their favor, there was no hope for the prisoners. 
Yet, as their answers to the charges showed, both were inno¬ 
cent of crime. Even a member of the Council of Blood 
declared to Alva that Egmont ought to be rewarded instead 
of punished. 


CHAPTER IX. 


EXECUTION OF COUNTS EGMONT AND HORN. 

In these dark hours for his country, William the Silent 
boldly set himself against the power that had crushed her. 
In the summer of 1568 he published a most eloquent reply 
to the act of condemnation by which his property had been 
confiscated, and held up the tyranny and ingratitude of 
Philip to the indignation of the world. He was unsparing in 
his efforts to raise money and troops, and himself contributed 
an eighth of the two hundred thousand crowns necessary for 
organizing an invading army, the remainder being furnished 
by patriotic individuals and cities of the country. His splen¬ 
did jewels and furniture were sold to aid the cause.for which 
his fortune, family, and life were staked. A secret plot to 
seize Alva and capture Brussels having failed, William now 
prepared for open battle. 

According to the prince’s plans, his forces were divided 
into four bodies, three of which were to enter the Netherlands 
at different points, while the fourth, under his own command, 
awaited the progress of events. The first two attempts failed, 
but the third, directed by Count Louis of Nassau, was suc¬ 
cessful. His raw levies met the trained troops of Alva, under 
the command of Count Aremberg, and defeated them in the 
battle of the Holy Lion,” May 23, in Friesland, in which the 
generalship of Count Louis was brilliantly displayed. The 
victory was, however, darkened by the death of the gallant 
Adolphus of Nassau, the youngest brother of Orange, at the 


1568- Egmont OJI the Scaffold. 123 

hands of the Netherlander in command of the Spanish force, 
who was himself killed. Want of money to keep the troops 
together, and of artillery to capture the important city of 
Groningen, made the triumph almost useless. 

Alva was furious at the unexpected success of the rabble of 
Netherlanders. He resolved to crush their insolent com¬ 
mander himself. Before leaving Brussels he destroyed the 
Culemburg Palace, executed eighteen distinguished prisoners, 
and sentenced Counts Egmont and Horn to be beheaded by 
the sword. They were brought from Ghent to Brussels under 
a large guard of soldiers and confined in the Brood-huis, or 
Bread-house, a picturesque building still standing opposite 
the magnificent City Hall. ’ In vain did the Bishop of Ypres, 
who was ordered to inform the two nobles of their fate, beg 
for pardon or delay. Alva would not yield. Yet he deceived 
the heart-broken wife of Egmont by saying that her husband 
would be released the next day. 

The count was awakened from sleep near midnight to read 
his death-warrant. He showed no fear of the cruel punish¬ 
ment, though he was indignant at its injustice. More anxious 
for his wife and children than for himself, he wrote to Philip 
asking compassion for them on account of his services to the 
king and the Catholic faith. Loyal to the last, he begged 
forgiveness for any mistake which he had made during the 
Netherland troubles. Count Horn received the news of his 
own fate with perfect calmness. 

The execution took place the next morning, the 5 th of 
June, in the splendid great square at Brussels, where Egmont 
had won many prizes in knightly sports. Three thousand 
Spanish troops surrounded the scaffold. On his way, the 
count recited the fifty-first Psalm to express his devotion to 
his sovereign and his God. At first he walked the planks 
restlessly, complaining that he could not die in battle, and 
Still hoping for a pardon. He wore a robe of crimson dam- 


124 History of the Netherlands, 

ask, with a gold-embroidered mantle and a black hat with 
black and white plumes. Around his neck was the collar of 
the Golden Fleece, and in his hand he held a white hand¬ 
kerchief. Kneeling on a velvet cushion, he repeated the 
Lord’s Prayer aloud, kissed a silver crucifix, and received a 
blessing from the Bishop of Ypres. As Egmont exclaimed, 
“ Lord, into thy hands I commit my spirit! ” the executioner, 
who had been concealed by the draperies of the scaffold, sud¬ 
denly appeared and cut off his head with a single blow. 

The crowd shuddered at the fate of the brave general,, and 
even the Spanish soldiers and the iron-hearted Alva shed 
tears. The French ambassador said that he had seen the 
head fall before which France had twice trembled. 

Hardly had the body and blood of Egmont been covered 
with a dark cloth, when Admiral Horn passed through files 
of soldiers to the scaffold. As he m.oved along he calmly 
saluted his friends. He was dressed plainly in a dark doublet 
and a black cloak, and his bald head was uncovered. After 
complaining of the undeserved insult of the reversal of his 
coat-of-arms on the platform, he begged the crowd to pray 
for his soul. He then knelt in prayer, and afterward quietly 
laid his neck on the block and died without a murmur. 

The heads of the two nobles were placed on irOn spikes in 
view of the multitude, who were moved to tears and re¬ 
proaches by the spectacle. Many persons pressed through 
the ranks of the soldiers to the scaffold and wildly dipped 
their handkerchiefs in the blood, to be preserved as memo¬ 
rials of the crime and incitements to vengeance. The bodies 
of the victims were delivered to their friends, but the -heads 
were boxed up and sent to Philip. 

The execution of Egmont showed the folly of the king 
in destroying a faithful supporter, not only of the Catholic 
religion, but of his own tyrannical measures. The count was 
a gallant, high-spirited soldier, but too vain and unsteady for 



EXECUTION OF EGMONT AND HORN. 






































































Cruelties of Alva, 


127 


1568. 

a true patriot. Poets have wrongly pictured him as a defender 
of liberty.^ Horn, though a less interesting person, was really 
more worthy of popular respect. 

These executions deepened the hatred of the people for 
Alva, who was said to have envied Egmont’s popularity, 
though there is no doubt that they were planned by the duke 
and the king before the former left Spain. 

Want of money to pay his mutinous troops had prevented 
Louis of Nassau from following up his victory. Pie had 
to depend upon forced contributions from the inhabitants, 
who, though favoring his cause, feared the threats of the fero¬ 
cious Alva. The duke pursued the rebellious soldiers of the 
count to a narrow strip of land at Jemmingen, where they 
were shut in between the Spaniards and the river Ems. Louis 
set his troops to work destroying the dyke so as to flood the 
enemy with the ocean. Before this could be done they 
arrived, and by hard fighting close'd the gates which kept 
out the water. Then cunningly luring the undisciplined 
rebels out of their trenches, July 21, Alva’s veterans set upon 
them with tremendous fury. Seven thousand of the Nether- 
landers were killed, and only seven Spaniards. The slaughter 
of the wounded went on for two days. Count Louis, who 
had fought with great bravery, only escaped by swimming the 
Ems, and taking refuge in Germany. The horrors of the 
return march of the Spaniards to Groningen are almost be¬ 
yond belief. Neither age nor sex was spared in the butch¬ 
ery, and the sky was red with the flames of burning buildings. 
Even Alva felt obliged to hang some of his merciless soldiers. 
Yet at Utrecht he did not hesitate to execute an old lady 
eighty-four years of age because her son-in-law had, eighteen 
months before, given a night’s lodging to a preacher in her 
house- Unfortunately the old lady, though a sincere Catholic, 

^ Goethe’s “ Egmont,” while giving an animated picture of the times, makes 
the hero a much nobler man than history paints him. 


128 History of the Netherlands, 

was rich, and the government wanted money. I know very 
well,” said the brave dame, why my death is thought neces¬ 
sary. The calf is fat and must be killed.” 

On his triumphant return to Brussels, the duke again began 
his course of torture, butchery, and burning. Even great ser¬ 
vices to the king did not appease the fury of Alva, and at 
last he hanged “ Red-Rod,” the executioner who had cheer¬ 
fully done his bloody work. 

The Prince of Orange now had great cause for discourage¬ 
ment. His careful plans had been defeated, and the Emperor 
and princes of Germany forbade further resistance to Philip 
as useless. But William had become a devout soldier of the 
Reformation, and he thought it his duty to defend the cause 
of religious liberty. His letters showed his deep trust in God, 
and he opposed persecution of Catholics. To conciliate the 
friends of the King of Spain, he assumed that Alva, against 
whom he now declared war, committed all his cruelties on 
his own authority. He solemnly called on the people of the 
Netherlands to aid in expelling the Spaniards. 

Little money was obtained by this appeal, and the poor 
gave more in proportion than the rich. The prince, how¬ 
ever, mustered thirty thousand soldiers, and marched boldly 
near Alva’s encampment in Brabant. The cautious duke 
was resolved not to fight, but to worry and tire out his enemy. 
As Orange could get no provisions in the country, and his 
troops were discontented, Alva acted wisely. He cut to 
pieces the rear-guard of the prince’s force, numbering about 
three thousand, while the main body were crossing the river 
Geta, October 20. As the people would not aid William, he 
was obliged to disband his army at Strasburg. Even after 
pawning his valuables, he was still in debt to the troops; 
nothing remained for him but to assist the struggling Protes¬ 
tants in France. He left with his two brothers in the spring, 
to fight under the Prince of Conde, after promising to give 


568. 


Alveis Glorification. 


29 


himself up av security for the pay due to his soldiers if he 
returned alive. The accidental death of his gallant friend, 
Count Hoogstraaten, was another misfortune of this ill-fated 
campaign in the Netherlands. 

Alva celebrated his triumph by gay festivals, and the erec¬ 
tion of a great bronze statue of himself in the citadel of 



PRINCE OF CONDE. 


Antwerp, formed of cannon taken at Jemmingen, and marked 
with a boastful inscription. It represented the iron warrior 
trampling on a figure with two heads, supposed to be intended 
either for Egmont and Horn, Orange and his brother Louis, 
or the nobles and people of the provinces. The savage ap¬ 
pearance of the heads led the Duke of Aerschot to tell 
Alva that they would take signal vengeance if they should 




130 History of the Netherlajids, 

ever rise again. This careless jest was cherished by the 
public as a prophecy. 

Urged by the princes of Germany to protect the oppressed' 
provinces, the Emperor Maximilian had sent his brother, the 
Archduke Charles, to Spain at the close of the year 1568, 
to demand justice for them. But the emperor soon deserted 
the patriot cause, in the hope that Philip, who was now a 
widower, would marry his daughter, the Archduchess Anne. 
Troubles between Alva and Queen Elizabeth of England, 
who had seized nearly a million dollars’ worth of treasure 
intended for his army, greatly injured Netherland commerce 
during the next four years. 

The gift of a jewelled hat and sword from Pope Pius V., in 
reward for his services to the Church, encouraged the duke 
to continue his inhuman persecutions. He now loaded the 
people with exhausting taxes, which threatened to destroy 
the trade and industries of the country. On every transfer 
o^ real estate there was a charge of five per cent, or a twen¬ 
tieth of its value. This was called the “twentieth penny,” 
Another tax, the “tenth penny,” or ten per cent, was laid on 
every article of merchandise or personal property as often as 
it was sold. There was a general outcry against these ruin¬ 
ous imposts, and though consent to them was at last wrung 
from most of the states, it was only on condition that all 
should yield. The city and province of Utrecht having re¬ 
sisted these illegal taxes, they were summoned before the 
Council of Blood, declared guilty of high treason, and de¬ 
prived of their liberties and property. Though this taxa¬ 
tion was opposed by Viglius, the president of the council, as 
endangering Spanish rule, Alva persisted in enforcing it. He 
ignorantly thought that because the “ tenth penny ” had 
been borne in Spain, where trade was stagnant, it coiild be 
endured in a country where property was constantly changing 
hands. ^ 



THE DROWNED LAND, ZUYDER ZEE, 

























































































































J 





1570- Sufferings of the Patriots. 133 

Though the king had sided with the duke against the estates, 
he began to think that he had gone too far in draining the 
country of its blood and treasure. He felt like the man who 
had killed the goose that laid the golden eggs. Being 
advised by Viglius and Cardinal Granvelle to issue a general 
pardon, the king deputed Alva to announce it. This he did 
at a great festival at Antwerp, on the 14th of July, but the 
scheme was so evidently a trick to entrap new victims that 
the people were disgusted with it. 

Three months afterward Baron Montigny, the survivor of. 
the two Netherland envoys to Spain, was secretly strangled in 
prison by order of Philip. The reason for the execution be¬ 
ing private was the fear that another open exhibition would 
endanger the royal cause. But although the public were 
led to believe that Montigny had died of a fever, the king 
wrote a secret account of the affair, which has lately been 
brought to light, and which shows how perverted his nature 
had become. 

A tremendous flood which swept from the ocean over 
the Netherlands early in November, 1570, destroyed thou¬ 
sands of people, and did immense damage to property. 
Nearly all the dykes were broken up, vessels were carried into 
the interior of the country, and the inhabitants were obliged 
to seek shelter on the roofs of houses, the tops of trees, and 
the steeples of churches. A hundred thousand persons are 
known to have perished in this flood, which made the 
wretched Netherlanders feel as if Nature was bent on com¬ 
pleting the destruction which had been begun by man. 

Near the close of the year a deed of desperate daring was 
performed by a fierce partisan of Orange. One Herman de 
Ruyter, a drover, with three followers, disguised as monks, 
asked for a night’s lodging at the wave-washed castle of 
Louvestein. While conversing with the commandant, De 
Ruyter drew a pistol and shot him down, and in the panic 


134 History of'the Netherlands. 

which followed, his comrades seized the feebly manned for¬ 
tress. Twenty-five more men were brought in the next day, 
but the state of the roads prevented the arrival of a larger 
number. The governor of Bois le Due, on hearing of the cap¬ 
ture, at once sent two hundred soldiers, under Captain Perea, 
to regain the castle. After battering the outer walls with can¬ 
non, the Spaniards bravely scaled the inner defences. Most 
of the followers of De Ruyter being killed or taken prisoners, 
he withdrew to the entrance of an inner hall, where he mowed 
down numbers of his assailants with his trusty sword. 
Wounded and bleeding, he at last moved slowly backward, 
but before his pursuers could get at him, he lighted a train 
of powder which he had laid along the floor. In an in¬ 
stant the tower was blown into the air, and De Ruyter and 
his enemies perished together. Part of his remains were 
afterwards gibbeted, and his surviving comrades were all put 
to death. 


CHAPTER X. 


THE DROWNED LAND. 

William of Orange, who had come back to the Nether¬ 
lands in the autumn of 1569, crossed the enemy’s lines in 
the disguise of a beggar, and passed through France .to Ger¬ 
many. He had previously granted commissions to some 
adventurous sailors to cruise against Spanish trading ships. 
These privateersmen, who called themselves the “ Beggars of 
the Sea,” soon became the terror of the ocean. The prince 
purified this service by limiting it to honest men, enforcing 
strict discipline, and requiring every vessel to have a minister 
on board. This was the school of the future naval greatness 
of Holland. 

But, although keeping up good heart, the fortunes of 
Orange were at a low ebb. Deserted by the princes of 
Germany, and without money to pay his disbanded troops, 
he was obliged to perform the humblest services for himself. 
Yet he never lost sight of his great mission, and cared kindly 
for all who had ever aided it. 

Meanwhile, Alva’s attempts to enforce taxation met with 
steadfast resistance. The victims of religious persecution 
would not endure plunder for any other cause. Even his 
own council opposed the measure, while the people became 
more and more excited against it. Merchants and shop¬ 
keepers suspended business, legislatures remonstrated, and 
crowds gathered defiantly in the streets; no one would pay 
the odious taxes. Wherever Alva went, he was met with 


136 History of the Netherlands. 

tokens of disgust and abhorrence. All this made the duke 
furious, for it showed that his power was weakening. At last 
he was about to hang eighteen Brussels butchers and bakers 
in front of their shops, which they had refused to open, when 
news came to him of the capture of the important town of 
Brill, by the beggars of the sea, April i, 1572. These wild 
rovers, under the command of the reckless Admiral de la 
Marck, had been obliged to leave the coast of England by 
command of Queen Elizabeth, who was ignorant of the plots 
of Philip and Alva to assassinate her. To the gallant William 
of Blois, Lord of Treslong, the admiral’s lieutenant, is due 
the honor of turning these captures to account as the basis 
of the future Dutch Republic. The beggars killed a num¬ 
ber of monks and priests, and used the rich vestments and 
golden cups, taken from Catholic churches, on board their 
vessels. As Brill in Flemish means spectacles, the wits of 
Brussels ridiculed Alva’s loss as a proof of his short-sighted 
policy, which had been appropriately baffled on April Fools’ 
Day. 

This was the beginning of a revolt which brought all the 
great towns and cities bf Holland, Zealand, and Friesland to 
the support of the Prince of Orange. Among its victims was 
Pacheco, the chief engineer of Alva, who designed the great 
citadel of Antwerp. He was cruelly hanged by the beggars 
on the capture of Flushing, where he had gone to complete the 
fortress. In the absence of the city hangman, it was difficult 
to get any person to perform his odious work. Even a mur¬ 
derer lying in prison under sentence of death refused to exe¬ 
cute the culprit, for the sake of a pardon. But on being told 
that the intended victim was a Spanish officer, the murderer 
agreed to hang him, provided he were allowed to kill any 
man who should reproach him for the deed. 

While William of Orange was in Germany, raising money 
and troops, he still directed the affairs of the Netherlands. 



CONFLICT BETWEEN SPANISH FLEET AND SEA BEGGARS. 



















Alva's Authority Defied. 


139 


1572- 

His prospects were again brightened by the capture, by his gal¬ 
lant brother Louis of Nassau, of the important city of Mons, 
at the very time that he was supposed to be in France. He 
was aided by Antony Oliver, a painter, who, while employed 
by Alva, was in the secret service of Orange. Wagons 
apparently containing merchandise, but really loaded with 
arms, entered the city in charge of the artist. May 23, 1572, 
and the gates were opened to the troops of Count Louis by 
twelve of his followers, disguised as wine-merchants. This 
last startling blow forced Alva to immediate action. He at 
once sent his son, Don Frederic, to lay siege to Mons. 
Soon after, the Duke of Medina Coeli, Alva’s successor as 
governor of the Netherlands, arrived safely with his fleet, but 
another Spanish squadron fell with its rich treasures into the 
hands of the rebels. 

Alva was now so pressed for money that he agreed to 
abolish the useless tenth-penny tax, if the states-general of 
the Netherlands would grant him a million dollars a year. 
He had summoned the states of Holland to meet at the 
Hague on the 15th of July, but they met at Dort to renounce 
his authority, at the summons of William of Orange, who had 
raised an army in Germany, but was without means to se¬ 
cure the necessary three months’ payment in advance. While 
still owning allegiance to the king, the states recognized 
Orange as stadtholder, empowered him to drive out the 
Spanish troops, and to maintain religious freedom. Alva 
was enraged at the readiness of the people, who had resisted 
his demands for money, to risk their property and lives in 
support of this insolent rebel. 

Treating the Emperor Maximilian’s peace orders as useless, 
the prince marched his army of twenty-four thousand men to 
the relief of Mons. Most of the Netherland cities on the 
way accepted his authority, and everything looked favorable 
for his success, when an unforeseen and terrible calamity 



140 History of the Netherlands. 

occurred. The French king, Charles IX., whose troops had 
been routed before Mons, had promised to furnish further aid 
to the provinces. Admiral Coligny was to join the forces of 
Orange with fifteen thousand men. The frightful massacre 
of St. Bartholomew in Paris, on the 24th of August, in which 
that Protestant chief and thousands of his associates were 
sacrificed to the young king’s treachery, instigated by his 
crafty mother, Catherine de Medici, was a terrible blow to 


MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW. 

the prince. It broke up all his plans. He had reached the 
neighborhood of Mons, which he was trying to reinforce, 
when a night attack was made by the Spaniards on his lines, 
September 11. They butchered his soldiers without mercy, 
and, as his guards were asleep, would have captured the 
prince himself, had not a small spaniel that always passed 
the night on bis bed^ awakened him by barking and scratch- 








ST. BARTHOLOMEW. 











■1 






■'i 


■i 











Spanish Cruelties. 


143 


1572. 

ing his face. He had just time to mount his horse, when 
the enemy rushed into his tent. The prince did not forget 
the faithfulness of the little dog, and, to the day of his death, 
never went to sleep at night without having a spaniel of the 
same race at his side.i 

Obliged to leave his gallant brother Louis to his fate in 
Mons, Orange narrowly escaped being killed on his retreat. 
An assassin hired by Alva followed him, and even his own 
soldiers, enraged at not being paid, attempted his life, 
which was saved by his attached officers. Deserted by the 
cities that had been so earnest in his cause, sorrowful, but 
not despairing for his country, William had only his trust in 
God and his own destiny to sustain him. As Holland was 
the only province that clung to the hero patriot, he went 
there expecting and prepared to die for liberty. 

I.ouis of Nassau was forced, on the 21st of September, to 
abandon Mons to the Spaniards, who allowed Noircarmes, 
the butcher of Valenciennes, to massacre and pillage the in¬ 
habitants contrary to the terms of surrender. This wretch 
killed Catholics and Protestants alike, in order to secure their 
riches for himself. Yet we should not have known the extent 
of his cruelties, but for an accident. An old tower in the 
ruined castle of Naast fell not many years ago, and brought 
to view a mass of writings, which proved to be the records 
of the crimes committed at Mons. The city of Mechlin, 
which had refused to admit a garrison of his troops, was even 
more brutally ravaged by Alva in order to obtain gold. In 
vain did priests and citizens beg for mercy from his soldiers. 

1 The services of this little dog have lately been recognized in an unexpected 
quarter. Mr. Justice Earl, in delivering the opinion of the New York Court 
of Appeals, rejecting the common-law principle that dogs are not property and 
cannot be the subject of theft, vindicates the race from the charge of having a 
base nature, and affirms that “ the small spaniel that saved the life of William 
of Orange probably changed the current of modern history.” — Midlaly v. 
Peoj)le of the State of New York^ N. Y. Reports, vol. 86, p. 365.- 


144 


History of the Netherlands, 


They even tore in pieces the beds of sick people at the 
hospitals in search of hidden treasure. A rigid Catholic, a 
fnember of the Grand Council and a nephew of the Bishop 
of Arras, told the State Council that the sack of Mechlin had 
been so horrible that unfortunate mothers had not a morsel 
of bread for their children, who were dying before their eyes. 
He added that he could say more, but the recollection of the 
scene was so terrible that it made his hair stand on end. 

There is a part of the Netherlands called the Drowned 
Land.” For hundreds of years it has been buried beneath 
the waters of the German Ocean, which destroyed numerous 
villages, with their inhabitants, and made an island of what 
was before the mainland. On this island of South Beveland, 
there was, in 1572, the city of Tergoes, which was the key of 
Walcheren and Zealand. To save this city from the rebels, 
the Spanish colonel. Mondragon, resolved to send an army 
to it across the drowned land. This was the plan of Captain 
Plomaert, a loyal Fleming, who, with two peasants, had twice 
performed the difficult and dangerous passage of ten miles 
on foot. His attempt had been made at low tide, when the 
water over the drowned land was four or five feet deep. 

Although no longer young. Mondragon resolved to lead 
the hazardous expedition himself. He secretly assembled 
three thousand picked men, but did not tell them his scheme 
till they reached the water’s edge, on the evening of the 20th 
of October. Instead of shirking, they welcomed the dangerous 
service. Each soldier carried a supply of biscuit and powder 
in a sack placed on his head. The tide was half run out 
when the troops started almost in single file, the water rising 
to their breasts, and even to their shoulders as they moved 
along the treacherous muddy bottom. If they did not reach 
the island before the tide turned, they would be swept away. 
For five long hours the daring soldiers breasted the waves, 
often losing their footing and obliged to swim for their lives. 


Rout of the Patriots. 


145 


They reached dry land before dawn, having lost only nine 
men on their midnight march. The news of their arrival fell 
like a thunderbolt on the patriot forces; and, though supe¬ 
rior in numbers, they fled panic-stricken from the terrible 
Spaniards who had come out of the sea to attack them. . Be¬ 
fore the Zealanders could escape to their ships, their whole 
rear-guard was destroyed by the enemy, who then made 
Tergoes safe from assault. 


10 


CHAPTER XI. 


HEROIC DEFENCE OF HAARLEM. 

Alva’s son, Don Frederic, now proved an apt pupil of his 
father, by almost literally executing his command to kill every 
man and burn every house fn the city of Zutphen, which 
had opposed the entrance of the king’s troops. The massa¬ 
cre was terrible and complete. The cause of Orange suffered 
still more by the cowardly flight of his brother-in-law. Count 
Van den Berg, from his post of duty in the provinces of 
Gelderland and Overyssel. By this desertion rugged Fries¬ 
land was also lost to the patriot side. Holland alone held 
out against the victorious Spaniards. 

The little city of Naarden at first stoutly refused to surren¬ 
der, but being weak, was obliged to yield without striking a 
blow. Don Frederic’s agent, Julian Romero, having prom¬ 
ised that life and property should be spared, the people wel¬ 
comed him and his soldiers at a grand feast on the 2d of 
December. Hardly was this over when five hundred citizens, 
who had assembled in the town hall, were warned by a priest 
to prepare for death. This was the signal for the entrance 
of the Spanish troops, who butchered every one in the build¬ 
ing. They then rushed furiously through the streets, pillaging 
and then setting fire to the houses. As the inmates came 
forth, they were tortured and killed by their cruel foes. In 
their savage frenzy the soldiers opened the veins of some of 
their victims and drank their blood. The son of the learned 
historian Hortensius was slaughtered and his heart torn out 


VIEW IN HAARLEM. 








































































1572 . 


The Sack of Naarden. 


49 


before his father’s eyes. To extort money from the principal 
burgomaster, his feet were roasted before a slow fire. After 
paying a heavy ransom, under promise of mercy, he was 
hanged in his own doorway, and his limbs were nailed to the 
city gates by order of Don Frederic. He even forbade the 
burial of the dead, and their bodies remained festering in 
the streets for three weeks. So complete was his revenge that 
Alva wrote boastfully to the king that “they had cut the 
throats of the burghers and all the garrison, and had not left 
a mother’s son alive.” He ascribed this success to the favor 
of God in permitting the defence of so feeble a city to be 
even attempted. According to a pious Catholic writer, the 
sack of Naarden was sanctioned by the Almighty, because it 
was the first of the Holland towns to sustain heresy. This 
remark shows how terrible was the effect of bigotry upon good 
men in that age. 

The praises of his father and the king for his bloody work 
made Don Frederic eager to crush the whole country. But 
the Hollanders, encouraged by Orange, were roused to des¬ 
peration by the fate of Naarden and the threats of the in¬ 
vaders. The most novel and ingenious methods of defence 
were used. A fleet of war ships, frozen up near Amsterdam, 
was saved by the crews digging a wide trench around it, and 
sending out a band of musketeers on skates against the 
besiegers. In this slippery conflict, the Spaniards were easily 
worsted; but Alva, who marvelled at this skirmish upon a 
frozen sea, was quick to profit by the lesson. He ordered 
seven thousand pairs of skates, with which his troops soon 
learned to perform the boldest military evolutions. 

As the city of Haarlem was the key to Holland, Don Fred¬ 
eric resolved to capture it at any cost. But the people were 
so bent upon resistance that they executed two of their mag¬ 
istrates for secretly negotiating with Alva, who had won over 
the Catholic government of Amsterdam. Ripperda, the 


150 History of the Netherlands. 

commandant of the Haarlem garrison, cheered soldiers and 
people by his heroic counsels, and through the efforts of 
Orange the city was placed under patriot rule. Amsterdam, 
which was in the enemy’s hands, was ten miles distant, 
across a lake traversed by a narrow causeway, and the 
prince had erected a number of forts to command the 
frozen surface. As a thick fog covered the lake in these 
. December days, supplies of men, provisions, and ammunition 
were brought into the city in spite of the vigilance of the 
besiegers. The sledges and skates of the Hollanders were 
very useful in this work. But against Don Frederic’s 
army of thirty thousand men, nearly equalling the entire 
population of Haarlem, the city with its extensive but weak 
fortifications had only a garrison of about four thousand. 
The fact that about three hundred of these were respectable 
women armed with sword, musket, and dagger, shows the 
heroic spirit of the people. The men were nerved to fresh 
exertions by these Amazons, who, led by their noble chief, 
the Widow Kenau Hasselaer, fought desperately by their side, 
both within and without the works. The banner of this 
famous heroine, who has been called the Joan of Arc of 
Haarlem, is now in the City Hall. 

A vigorous cannonade was kept up against the city for 
three days, beginning December 18, and men, women, and 
children worked incessantly in repairing the shattered walls. 
They even dragged the statues of saints from the churches to 
fill up the gaps, to the horror of the superstitious Spaniards. 
The brave burghers repelled their assaults with all sorts of 
weapons. Burning coals and boiling oil were hurled at their 
heads, and blazing pitch-hoops were skilfully caught about 
their necks. 

Astonished by this terrible resistance, which cost him hun¬ 
dreds of lives, Don Frederic resolved to take the city by 
siege. He began by causing the ravelin, an important out- 



DEFENCE OF HAARLEM. 



































§ 




O 




j 


( 




1572- Desperate Defence of Haarlem. 153 

work, to be undermined. But the citizens also burrowed in 
the ground, and forced back their foes in narrow, dimly 
lighted passages, with spear and dagger and fearful explosions 
of gunpowder. 

Meanwhile the Prince of Orange, whose two large relief 
parties had been butchered by the Spaniards, sent encourag¬ 
ing letters into the town by carrier pigeons. He followed 
them up with supplies of food and powder and four hun¬ 
dred veteran soldiers, by means of sledges drawn over the 
ice of Haarlem lake. 

The besiegers having captured a Captain King, cut off his 
head and threw it into the city with the inscription, “ This is 
the king who is on his way to relieve Haarlem with his sol¬ 
diers.” The citizens retorted by throwing into the enemy’s 
camp a barrel containing the heads of eleven prisoners, and 
labelled, “Ten heads for the Duke of Alva, in payment of 
his ten-penny tax, with one head more for interest.” 

The walls and gates of the ravelin were now so shattered 
that Don Frederic, confident of victory, ordered a midnight 
assault on the last day of January; but though it caught the 
people asleep they rallied boldly to the defence, on being 
roused by the alarm bells. At last the fort was carried by 
the Spaniards, after a terrific onset. They mounted the walls 
expecting to have the city at their mercy. Judge of their 
amazement to find a new and stronger fort, shaped like a half¬ 
moon, which had been secretly constructed during the siege, 
blazing away at them with its cannon. Before they could 
recover from their shock, the ravelin, which had been carefully 
undermined, blew up, and sent them crushed and bleeding 
into the air. The Spaniards outside, terrified at these out¬ 
bursts, retreated hastily to their camp, leaving hundreds of 
dead beneath the walls. 

Two assaults of veteran soldiers, led by able generals, having 
been repelled by the dauntless burghers of Haarlem, famine 


154 History of the Netherlands. 

seemed the only means of forcing its surrender. Starvation 
in fact soon threatened both besiegers and besieged. Don 
Frederic wished to abandon the contest, but Alva threatened 
to disown him as a son if he did so. 

“ Should he fall in the siege,” said the grim warrior, I 
will myself take the field to maintain it; and when we have 
both perished, the duchess, my wife, shall come from Spain 
to do the same.” 

And so the struggle went on. The Hollanders performed 
wonders with their little force which Orange could only feebly 
aid. A single patriot on a dyke defended it against a thou¬ 
sand men. The name of this hero was John Haring. Bold 
sallies were made from Haarlem, by which quantities of arms 
and provisions were captured, and hosts of besiegers killed. 
On their return from one of these adventures, the brave de¬ 
fenders of the city erected a mound of earth upon the ram¬ 
parts in the form of a huge grave. Upon this mound were 
placed the captured cannon and standards, while over it 
floated the inscription in ghastly mockery of the besiegers, — 
“Haarlem is the grave5^ard of the Spaniards.” 

Even the veteran Alva was amazed at the heroism of 
these plain burghers.' He wrote to Philip that never was 
a place defended with such skill and bravery. The cruelties 
committed by the Spaniards were imitated by the maddened 
patriots. No quarter was given to prisoners. There was 
soon a struggle for the possession of the lake, which was the 
only means of conveying supplies to the besieged. In the 
terrible hand-to-hand fight which followed the grappling of 
the rival vessels, on the 28th of May, the prince’s fleet, under 
Admiral Brand, was totally defeated. The Spanish admiral, 
Bossu, swept the lake and captured the forts, and the besieg¬ 
ers now had Haarlem at their mercy. Yet the brave burghers 
still held firm. 

Starvation was now the only means of taking the city. To 


573- 


Suffering at Haarlem. 


155 


mock their hated foes, the suffering inhabitants marched to 
and fro on the ramparts with drums beating and flags waving. 
They even paraded in the gorgeous vestments of priests, 
taken from Catholic churches, and broke sacred images and 
relics in view of the horrified Spaniards. During the month 
of June the wretched people of Haarlem had no food but 
linseed and rapeseed, and they were soon compelled to eat 
dogs, cats, rats, and mice. When these gave out they de¬ 
voured shoe-leather and the boiled hides of horses and oxen, 
and tried to allay the pangs of hunger with grass and weeds. 
The streets were full of the dead and the dying. 

Early in July the city was again severely bombarded, and 
as Don Frederic would grant no mercy, a letter written in 
blood was sent to Orange imploring, relief. With scornful 
fury the besieged threw the few loaves of bread left in Haar¬ 
lem into the enemy’s camp. A black flag had been raised 
on the cathedral tower, as a signal of despair, but hope was 
revived by cheering news of succor from the prince, brought 
by a carrier pigeon. He had himself intended to lead the 
expedition, though fearing its failure from lack of regular 
troops, but the people would not consent to risk so val¬ 
uable a life. Five thousand volunteers under Baron Baten- 
burg went forward, with four hundred wagon-loads of pro¬ 
visions and seven field-guns. Among these daring patriots 
was the future leader of the republic, John of Barneveld, who 
marched as a private soldier. Unfortunately, the plan of 
relief was discovered by the enemy, two doves bearing the 
letters being shot and brought into their camp. The Span¬ 
iards were thus enabled to surprise and destroy the whole 
force. The news was sent into the city by a prisoner with 
nose and ears cut off, and several heads were thrown over 
the walls as further proof. There was now terrible excitement 
in Haarlem. As a last resort the besieged resolved to form 
a solid column, with the women and children, the aged and 


156 History of tJie Netherlands. 

infirm, in the centre, to fight their way out; but Don Frederic, 
fearing the city would be left in ruins, induced them to 
surrender on the 12th of July, under promise of mercy. This 
l^romise was cruelly broken by a frightful massacre of two 
thousand people, which gave great joy to Alva and Philip. 
Yet the siege of Haarlem, which lasted seven moi\ths, and 
cost the Spaniards twelve thousand lives, was a proof of the 
heroism of Holland that might well have warned the victors 
of the dangers of the future. 


CHAPTER XIL 


THE SIEGE OF LEYDEN. 

The Duke of Alva, having got rid of Medina Coeli, his in¬ 
tended successor, vainly tried after the fall of Haarlem to gain 
over the other Netherland cities by promises and threats. 
Some of his mutinous unpaid soldiers in Haarlem, disguised 
as Baltic merchants, visited Orange at Delft and offered 
to deliver up the city for twenty thousand dollars; but the 
prince was obliged to forego this tempting scheme for want 
of means. Meantime Alva’s troops preyed on the wretched 
Netherlanders,.and his energies were taxed to restore order 
and satisfy his soldiers’ demands for booty. The little city 
of Alkmaar, in the extreme north of Holland, was his next 
object of attack. On the 21st of August Don Frederic be¬ 
gan the siege. He had sixteen thousand veteran troops, 
while the besieged could muster only eight hundred soldiers 
and thirteen hundred able-bodied burghers. So completely 
was the city surrounded in a few days that Alva declared 
that it was impossible for a sparrow to enter or leave it. He 
wrote to the king that as his gentle treatment of Haarlem 
had proved useless, he should try cruelty to bring other cities 
to their senses. “ If I take Alkmaar,” he said, “ I am re¬ 
solved not to leave a single creature alive; the knife shall be 
put to every throat.” Yet this wholesale butcher professed 
to favor mercy rather than bloodshed. 

Orange had encouraged Diedrich Sonoy, his lieutenant in 
North Holland, to hold out bravely against the enemy’s hosts. 


158 


History of the Netherla7ids. 


If worst came to worst, the prince was resolved to save Alk- 
maar by piercing the dykes and sweeping the invaders' away 
with the ocean. On the i8th of September Don Frederic 
followed up a twelve hours’ cannonade by an assault on the 
city. With their overwhelming force the assailants expected 
an easy victory. But they recoiled under the murderous fire 
from the ramparts, and the torrents of boiling water, pitch, 
and oil, melted lead, and scorching lime which were poured 
upon them by the citizens. A storm of blazing hoops rained 
upon the necks of the Spaniards, and those who mounted 
the walls were forced, at the point of the dagger, into the 
moat below. Amid a shower of bullets, women and children 
carried ammunition to their husbands, fathers, and brothers, 
who clung to their posts while life and strength lasted. Three 
times the Spaniards rushed furiously to the charge, and as 
often were they driven back by the dauntless burghers. When 
night came on, the assailants withdrew with a loss of a thou¬ 
sand lives against only thirty-seven of the defenders. A few 
heroic patriots had defeated the trained legions of Alva. A 
Spanish officer, who had reached the battlements and been 
hurled into the gulf below, said, after his wonderful escape 
from death, that he had seen no mailed warriors in the city, 
but only some common people, mostly in fishermen’s garb. 
Such were the humble defenders of their homes who had 
beaten back the flower of Philip’s army. 

The citizens of Alkmaar were cheered by news from a 
Spanish prisoner that the besiegers were greatly demoralized. 
Though this and other information had been given under 
promise of mercy, the man was treacherously executed. The 
next day, after another heavy bombardment, an assault was 
again ordered. But the Spaniards refused to advance against 
the terrible Hollanders, who were evidently protected by the 
Devil. 

There was a brave carpenter in Alkmaar named Peter Van 



DEFENSE OF ALKMAAR. 


159 








9 




1573- Spanish Retreat from Alkmaar. i6i 

der Mey, who had boldly crossed the enemy’s lines, bearing 
appeals from the citizens to Orange and other leading patriots, 
to pierce the dykes and flood the invaders with the sea. 
While returning with despatches from the prince and Sonoy, 
he narrowly escaped being caught and executed. A hollow 
cane, in which his letters were concealed, fell into the hands 
of the Spaniards. Alarmed by the discovery of the plan to 
drown him and his discontented army, Don Frederic, whose 
camp was already wet by the tide from some of the opened 
sluices, retired from Alkmaar on the 8th of October. His 
seven weeks’ siege was a failure. The daring carpenter had 
safely returned to Alkmaar and cheered the people with the 
stern resolve of William the Silent. The citizens were told to 
light four beacon fires when • the crisis arrived; these would 
be the signal for Sonoy to open the great flood-gates which 
held back the rushing waters. A guard was to be placed by 
the dykes and sluices to prevent the peasants from repairing 
or closing them under cover of night, in order to save their 
crops. Fortunately, the flight of the Spaniards rendered 
these extreme measures unnecessary. 

Orange and the states of Holland soon had trouble with 
the reckless Admiral de la Marck, the captor of Brill, whose 
cruelties to Catholics they deplored, although charged with 
inciting them. After boldly defying the government and 
causing serious riots, he was forced to leave the country. A 
mad dog bit the desperate adventurer a few years afterward, 
and ended his savage career. 

The news of the massacre of Protestants in France on St. 
Bartholomew’s day had made Elizabeth of England prepare to 
aid the Netherlands against Catholic Spain. But when she 
found that Orange was crushed and that Alva expressed hor¬ 
ror at the massacre, the prudent queen accepted the Spanish 
alliance. The wily duke was so pleased with his success 
that he advised Philip to bribe the English ministry to remain 


162 History of the Netherlands. 

true to him. Yet the people did not like this friendship with 
the fierce conqueror, and the London merchants raised a 
million and a quarter dollars to aid the struggling provinces. 

As the King of France professed deep sorrow for the mas¬ 
sacre of St. Bartholomew, Orange was willing to accept even 
his aid against the invader. Now that weak monarch, who 
was controlled by his Italian mother, the crafty Catherine de 
Medici, had two reasons for desiring the prince’s support. 
He wanted the hand of Queen Elizabeth for his brother, the 
Duke of Alengon, and the crown of Poland for his brother, 
the Duke of Anjou. As Orange had great influence with the 
electoral princes, the king agreed to his terms, as stated by 
his brother Louis of Nassau. These were that Charles should 
make peace with his subjects, allow religious freedom, and 
either fight for the liberation of the Netherlands or furnish 
one hundred thousand crowns every three months for the 
war. In return for these concessions the French king was 
granted the protectorate of Holland and Zealand, under their 
ancient liberties, with sovereignty over all places in the other 
provinces reconquered from Spain. Orange was also permit¬ 
ted to raise eight thcAasand troops in France, but money 
advanced to the provinces was to be repaid by him or the 
states. After making this agreement with Schbmberg, the 
French king’s agent, Louis of Nassau wrote plainly to Charles 
IX. of the folly and crime which had injured his cause, and 
benefited the Spaniard, his mortal enemy,” and warning 
him of the danger of interfering with religious freedom. 

Meanwhile Philip IL, who maintained that his duty required 
him to root out heresy, was so eager to become Emperor of 
Germany that he proposed to the princes of the empire to 
establish the Prince of Orange and religious liberty in the 
Netherlands. Having solemnly appealed to Philip and the 
people of all the provinces in behalf of their rights, the prince 
boldly declared his resolve, and that of the states of Holland, 








A 






573- 


Departtire of Alva, 


165 


to defend themselves to the last against the tyranny of Alva. 
He had now become a member of the Calvinist or reformed 
church. 

The last hours of the duke’s rule were drawing to a close 
amid defeat. A victory of the Holland fleet over the Span¬ 
iards on the Zuyder Zee, in a hand-to-hand conflict^ cheered 
the’hearts of the patriots three days after the relief of Alk- 
maar. Four of their little vessels grappled the Inquisition, 
the great ship of Count Bossu. Though deserted by his 
comrades, he and his crew in their bullet-proof armor beat 
off the boarding parties, who hurled upon them blazing hoops, 
boiling oil, and melted lead. The brave John Haring, of 
Horn, who had defended the Diemer dyke against a thou¬ 
sand men, scaled the lofty sides of the Inquisition, and 
hauled down her flag. He was shot dead, but Admiral 
Bossu, a Hollander himself, soon had to surrender, for his 
ship was aground and left alone on a hostile coast. He was 
an important prisoner for the patriots, as fear of his execution 
prevented Alva from destroying his illustrious captive, St. 
Aldegonde, the valued friend of Orange. Yet there was no 
lack of victims, and at last, Uitenhove, a Flemish nobleman 
who had been engaged in the capture of Brill, was slowly 
roasted to death at the stake. 

The duke now had a parting shot for the Netherland- 
ers. He owed a great deal of money in Amsterdam, and 
having publicly fixed a day of payment, he secretly left the 
city the night before. By this act he ruined many families. 
It was his boast that he had caused the execution of eighteen 
thousand six hundred inhabitants of the provinces during his 
rule. No wonder he was an object of hatred throughout 
the country, which he quitted forever on the i8th of Decem¬ 
ber, 1573. It is pleasant to know that he did not long 
remain in favor with the king after his return to Spain. He 
suffered imprisonment and exile before being sent to conquer 


166 History of tJie Netherlands, ■ 

Portugal, and in his last days became so weak that he had to 
drink milk from a woman’s breast, like a baby. He died 
Dec. 12, 1582, leaving a high reputation for generalship, but 
a very low one as a civil ruler, while his cruelties have made 
him infamous forever.^ 

The new governor of the Netherlands was Don Luis de 
Requesens and Cuhiga, Grand Commander of Castile, who 
had won his laurels fighting the Moors and Turks. He had 
governed Milan with skill, and when sworn in at Brussels, 
November 29, was supposed to favor conciliation. Philip 
had found the war so costly that he was willing to try peace¬ 
ful measures. He had already spent forty million dollars, and 
six million more were due the army for back pay. Alva’s 
policy had drained the wealth of the country. Even his 
bloody butchers, Noircarmes and Romero, were weary of 
slaughter. The Netherlanders were eager for peace, but 
the difficulty was to obtain it without sacrificing their liber¬ 
ties. It was feared by the prince that the people would be 
entrapped by a promise of pardon into a fatal surrender. 
Although he had offered to leave the provinces forever if this 

1 Motley’s elaborate arraignment of Alva has left nothing to be said on that 
side of ihe question. Froude, however, insists that the accepted historical view 
of the grim warrior, whom he regards as a typical Spaniard of the period, is 
due to the failure of his bloody work. “ Had the Catholics come off victorious, 
the duke would have been a second Joshua.” But success or failure is not a 
proper standard for the judgment of character. Making every allowance for 
Alva’s position as the servant of the bigoted Philip, his pitiless ferocity debars 
him from the indulgence granted to weaker natures. “ We shudder,” says the 
fair-minded Prescott, “at the contemplation of such a character, relieved by 
scarcely a single touch of humanity.” (“ History of Philip II.,” vol. ii. p. 298.) 
One of the Venetian ambassadors at the Spanish court was a keen observer 
of the grim duke before he went to the Netherlands. “ Presumptuous, swollen 
with pride, devoured by ambition, disposed to flattery, and very envious and 
avaricious,” is Badovaro’s judgment of him. “ He is not liked at court, where 
he is considered a man of very little heart,” adds the caustic diplomatist. 
(Gachard, “ Relations des Ambassadeurs Venitiens sur Charles-Quint et Philippe 
II.,” 75. Bruxelles, 1856.) 


1574 - Death of Louis of Nassau. 167 

would help the cause, every patriot dreaded the consequences 
of such a step. 

As the rebels were closely besieging the important city 
of Middleburg, where starvation threatened the forces of 
Mondragon, the Grand Commander attempted its relief. But 
the fleet which he despatched for this purpose having been 
beaten by the squadron got together by the Prince of Orange, 
the city was forced to surrender, February 21. The superi¬ 
ority of the Hollanders to the Spaniards on the water was, 
however, offset by the surpassing skill and good fortune of the 
king’s soldiers on land. This was soon shown in the failure 
of the patriots to capture Maestricht. Their defeat here was 
darkened by the death of the gallant Louis of Nassau, the 
brother of Orange. Strangely enough, a mimic battle which 
was seen some days before in the clouds was thought to fore¬ 
shadow the result of the conflict about to take place below. 
The victory of the king’s forces at Mookerheyde, or Mook 
Heath, April 14, was, however, made almost useless by their 
mutiny, which placed Antwerp at the mercy of unpaid reck¬ 
less soldiery, about the time that its fleet was conquered by 
the patriot squadron, under Admiral Boisot. 

The most distressing siege of the war was now in store for 
the city of Leyden, which had already been besieged* for five 
months. Don Francis Valdez, who had left the place on the 
invasion of Louis of Nassau, the last of March, returned on 
the 26th of May with eight thousand Walloon and German 
soldiers. Having some sixty redoubts around the city, he 
resolved to starve it out. The defence was intrusted to the 
valiant John Van der Does, the titled poet and historian. 
Unfortunately the citizens had neglected to prepare for the 
renewal of the siege, and their only reliance was upon a few 
companies of volunteers, their own bravery, and the aid of 
William the Silent. 

In vain had the Grand Commander sought to allure the 


168 History of the Netherlands. 

rebels-by a promise of pardon. The fact that this was olfered 
on condition of their abandoning their religion was enough 
to cause its rejection by the Hollanders, who were nearly all 
Protestants. Being implored by royalist Netherlanders in 
the camp of Valdez to submit to that merciful commander, 
the burghers of Leyden despatched a sheet of paper to him 
with this line in Latin, The fowler plays sweet notes on his 
pipe while he spreads his net for the bird.” 

Before long, the starvation policy of the besiegers was pain¬ 
fully felt in Leyden. By the end of June food had become 
so scarce that the authorities placed the people on short 
allowance. Their only news came by carrier pigeons and 
daring messengers, called ‘^jumpers,” who crossed the close 
lines of the besiegers at the peril of their lives. Desperate 
sallies were daily made from the gates. A liberal reward 
being offered for the heads of Spaniards, many of these 
ghastly trophies were brought in. But the danger of thin¬ 
ning out their little band of defenders obliged the magistrates 
to forbid their venturing beyond the walls. Their situation 
was daily growing more desperate, when William of Orange 
prevailed upon the states to allow him to pierce the dykes 
on the rivers Yssel and Meuse, open the great sluices at Rot¬ 
terdam, ‘Schiedam, and Delfthaven, and let the ocean in upon 
the Spaniards. Leyden was not on the sea, but he could 
send the sea to Leyden. Though this would cause fearful 
destruction of property, it was the only way to save the city. 

“ Better a drowned land than a lost land,” cried the patri¬ 
ots, overcome by the eloquent appeals of the prince. A 
subscription was raised for the work of destruction, bonds 
being issued, aid given by the states, and a large sum added 
by ladies from sales of their plate, jewelry, and furniture. But 
the waters rose so slowly that the starving citizens were 
in despair of the rescue which Orange, struck down by a 
fgver in Rotterdam^ assured them would soon come. For 



HOTEL DE VILLE, MIDDI^EBURG. 169 





































s 


1574- The Fierce Zealanders. 171 

three months they had been almost without food. Every 
day they climbed to the top of an old Roman tower which is 
still standing in Leyden, to watch anxiously for the expected 
flood. 

Fortunately the prince got well enough to send forward a 
flotilla on the slowly rising water, with provisions for the relief 
of the city. Eight hundred desperate Zealanders, wildest of 
the beggars of the sea, manned the war vessels, under Ad¬ 
miral Boisot. They were battle-scarred and maimed, some 
had lost arms and others legs, and on their caps were silver 
crescents inscribed, ‘^Rather Turks than Papists.” But the 
tide was not high enough to keep the craft afloat for a suffi¬ 
cient distance, and their passage was also blocked by g, strong 
dyke, about five miles from Leyden, held by the enemy. 
This was captured by a night attack, and an attempt to 
recapture it the next day failed. The fierce hatred of the 
wild Zealanders for their foes rose to frenzy in this encoun¬ 
ter. One of them knelt on a Spaniard whom he had struck 
down, tore out his heart, set his teeth into it for a moment, 
and then threw it on the ground, exclaiming, ’T is too 
bitter ! ” This heart, bearing the marks of the soldier’s teeth, 
was preserved for a long time at Delft. 

Still struggling along, checked by baffling winds and hos¬ 
tile batteries, the brave Boisot was more than a week in 
forcing the barriers which blocked his way -to Leyden, the 
enemy having a chain of sixty-two forts and four times his 
number of men. He was at last cheered by the arrival of 
the Prince of Orange, who had risen from a sick bed to urge 
on the work of deliverance. Having examined the ground 
and ordered the destruction of the last great dyke that 
separated the fleet from the city, he returned home with a 
ligjit heart. 

Meanwhile, the wretched inhabitants of Leyden were in 
terrible straits. There was no longer any bread, malt-cake. 


1/2 History of the Netherlmids. 

or horse-flesh; little girls had eaten their lap-dogs, and cats 
and rats were rare dainties. As the few cows which had been 
kept for milk were killed from day to day, crowds gathered 
round the butchers, to snatch any falling morsel and drink 
the blood that flowed in the gutters. Women and children 
searched for scraps of food among heaps of refuse; leaves 
were stripped from the trees to allay hunger; mothers with 
their infants in their arms dropped dead in the streets from 
starvation; a disease something like the plague resulted from 
the famine, and destroyed nearly eight thousand victims; 
yet, amid all these horrors, the patriots refused to surrender. 

The- gallant burgomaster, Adrian Van der Werf, who, when 
the encouraging news from the prince first came, had cheered ' 
the people with martial music and the firing of cannon, now 
showed himself equal to sterner duties. Being urged by a 
threatening crowd to yield to the appeals of the enemy and 
spare further suffering, he replied nobly, “ I have sworn to 
defend the city unto death, and with the help of God I will 
maintain my oath. I know that we shall starve, if not soon 
relieved; but it is better to die of starvation than of shame. 
Your threats do not move me. Kill me, if you will. Take 
my body to appease your hunger, but expect no surrender 
while I live.” 

These brave words subdued and cheered the desperate 
crowd, who again defied the enemy from the battlements. 
They declared that they would devour their left arms rather 
than yield, keeping their right to defend their families and 
freedom against the foreign tyrant. Sooner than surrender, 
they vowed to set fire to the city and perish with their wives 
and children in the flames. The besiegers, in ridicule of their 
desperate condition, called them rat-eaters and dog-eaters, 
and declared that the Prince of Orange could as well pluck 
the stars from the sky as bring the ocean to the relief of Ley¬ 
den. This taunt seemed like truth, for the waters kept going 


173 


1574 - Relief for Leyden. 

down. Only a strong wind and tide could now save the 
city. 

The hoped-for but seemingly hopeless relief came with 
startling swiftness. A tempest swept in from the ocean, 
carrying the waters across the ruined dykes, and bearing the 
light fleet of Admiral Boisot onward in the midnight darkness. 
There were about two hundred of these craft, each carrying 



MISERY OF THE PEASANTS. 


ten cannon and from ten to eighteen oars, and manned by 
twenty-five hundred sturdy fighting men. At their head 
moved a huge armored vessel, which had neither sails nor 
oars, but was propelled by paddle-wheels turned by a crank. 
This strange monster was called the “Ark of Delft.” 

On rushed the vessels over the flooded lands, among half- 
submerged fruit-trees and farmhouses. The cannon of the 
beggars of the sea, the terrible Zealanders, who never gave 














174 


History of the Netherlands. 


nor asked for quarter, sunk the enemy’s craft and their crews, 
and startled the troops in the outer Spanish forts, who, seized 
with panic, cowardly fled from their strongholds. They were 
pursued by the wild Zealanders, who slaughtered them in 
great numbers, with harpoons, boat-hooks, and daggers. The 
difflculties of the patriots were not yet over. One more 
powerful fortress, filled with soldiers, threatened to repel the 
advancing fleet. To the people of Leyden, and the com¬ 
mander of the vessels, the situation seemed desperate. 

The night passed in terrible suspense, for the next day the 
brave admiral was to attack the stronghold, in connection with 
an assault from the town. Lights were seen moving at mid¬ 
night from the fort across the waters, and one of the walls of 
the city fell with a sound like thunder. At daybreak Admiral 
Boisot, while preparing to storm the fortress, was struck by the 
death-like stillness within it. He feared that the Spaniards 
had captured Leyden in the night. Suddenly a man was 
seen wading through the water, which reached to his breast, 
while a boy waved his cap from the fort. The mystery was 
soon solved. Under cover of the darkness, the Spaniards 
had fled from their stronghold, observed only by the lad 
whose signals had attracted attention in the fleet. The crash 
of the falling city wall had increased the terror of their flight, 
which took place at the very time when Leyden was laid 
open to their arms. The city was saved, and prayers and 
thanksgivings went up from the half-starved inhabitants. This 
was on the 3d of October, 1574. The next day a tempest 
began to force the waters back to the ocean and permitted the 
reconstruction of the dykes. The Prince of Orange, who had 
received the glad tidings of relief while at church at Delft, 
hastened to the place which he had done so much to save, 
at the risk of dying from the pestilence. In commemora¬ 
tion of the deliverance, and in gratitude for the heroism of 
the citizens, the famous University of Leyden was soon 


1574 - Leyden University Founded. 175 

founded, though by a strange fiction of loyalty its establish¬ 
ment was credited to the king. This was a grand memorial 
of a siege which showed how worthy the Hollanders were 
of the freedom for which they had struggled so bravely. 
Though the people of Leyden nobly chose a university in 
preference to a great annual fair, the prince and the states 
rewarded them with both institutions. 

The dedication of the renowned seat of learning, Feb. 5, 
1575, enabled the survivors of the siege to indulge their taste 
for gorgeous allegorical pageants, in which even the grave 
professors took part. Triumphal arches spanned the flower- 
strewn streets, and the grand feast which concluded the im¬ 
posing ceremonies afforded a striking contrast to the recent 
famine. Even the pigeons that had brought them news 
during the siege were remembered by the grateful citizens. 
They were kindly cared for as long as they lived, and after 
death were stuffed and placed in the City Hall. 


CHAPTER XIII. 


THE “SPANISH FURY.” 

These successes of the patriots made Requesens, the new 
governor, still more desirous of peace. He had already ad¬ 
vised Philip to abolish the hated Council of Blood, and the 
king left the matter to his discretion. But as the provinces 
continued restive, the terrible institution was kept in force for 
some time longer. 

After Alva’s bloody failure in the Netherlands, the pacific 
policy of Ruy Gomez, Prince of Eboli, was again adopted 
by the king. It was pleasant for the jealous monarch to have 
a considerate governor like the Grand Commander in place 
of the haughty duke, whose independence had been tolera¬ 
ted because he was thought to be the only man capable of 
controlling the provinces. While professing to approve 
of his predecessor’s policy, Requesens had recommended 
conciliation as essential to the success of the royal cause. 
He not only advocated a general pardon, but the restoration 
of affairs as they were before the troubles. As a Spaniard 
and a Catholic, he excepted the Prince of Orange from 
mercy, because the crimes of the great heretic and rebel 
seemed too grave to be lightly dealt with.^ 

1 Requesens gave this advice to his sovereign in a remarkable letter, Dec. 
30, 1573, in which he complained of the inconvenience of having his hands tied 
by the secret instructions of Philip forbidding him to remit the penalties for 
rebellion. Heresy was included in the restriction ; but this, he wrote, he never 
thought of pardoning without express orders from the king. — “ Correspondance 
de Philippe II.” tom. ii. pp. 450, 451. 


WINDMILL. 





1574- 


Patriotism of Orange. 


79 


Various attempts were made near the close of the year 
1574 to induce the Prince of Orange to abandon the national 
cause, but in vain. He refused to accept any favors from the 
king so long as the foreign troops remained in the country, 
and religious freedom and the assembling of the states-general 
were denied to the people. He declared that it was almost 
impossible to negotiate with a government that used assas¬ 
sination to get rid of obstinate opponents. The prince also 
warned the Spanish agents that he might be obliged to place 
the provinces under the protection of some foreign power. 
“The country,” he said, “was a beautiful maiden, who had 
many suitors, and was thus so well defended that she could 
resist even the Turk.” 

In conducting the revolt of Holland and Zealand, Orange 
had acted in the king’s name, while wielding the full power 
of the people. They freely granted him ten times as much 
revenue as Alva had been able to extort, although Amsterdam 
and Haarlem were in the enemy’s hands. The influence of 
the cities in the government being thus increased, they grad¬ 
ually grew jealous of the stadtholder. William the Silent now 
proved his unselfish patriotism by resigning his vast powers. 
This act brought the states of Holland to their senses. As 
their ambition imperilled the safety of the country, they con¬ 
ferred upon him supreme authority on the 12th of Novem¬ 
ber. But they still haggled about supplies for carrying on 
the government, though the prince and his brothers had spent 
their fortunes in the cause. Only his indignant complaints 
and threats to leave the country made them yield to his 
demands. 

As the German emperor feared that unless Spain made 
peace with the patriots, the electoral princes would vote away 
his crown, he was even more anxious than his son-in-law, 
Philip, to put an end to the war. But his efforts proved fruit¬ 
less. Though the Spaniards were weary of the costly struggle. 


i8o History of the Netherlands. 

the king’s terms were too exacting to suit the influential 
Orange. While agreeing to the departure of the foreign 
troops and the assembling of the states-general, the royal 
commissioners insisted that the states should disband their 
foreign troops, and that all Protestants should leave the coun¬ 
try within six months. The king, it was said, felt bound by 
his oath of sovereignty to maintain the Catholic religion. 
As the prince and the states then offered to refer the matters 
in dispute to the decision of the states-general, Philip claimed 
a number of hostages and four Netherland cities to insure 
obedience to such decision. His guarantee was to be simply 
his word and signature and those of the Emperor Maximilian. 
So the negotiations ended, each party blaming the other for 
their failure. As the provinces were now largely Catholic, 
the decision of the states-general on the all-important religious 
question might have defeated the plans of Orange. Though 
both he and Philip desired peace, it was plainly impossible 
on the king’s terms, though his real intentions were unknown 
even to the Grand Commander, Requesens. Soon after the 
failure of these negotiations at Breda, which had lasted four 
months, the Prince of Orange was made sovereign, during 
the war, of Holland and Zealand, which were united under 
one government, June 4, 1575. By his eflbrts the laws 
against Catholics were repealed and an advance was made 
toward general religious toleration. . 

William the Silent had been very unfortunate in his second 
marriage, his wife having acted strangely ever since the wed¬ 
ding. She passed week after week shut up in her room, 
keeping the shutters closed, and candles burning day and 
night, and was very insolent to her husband and his friends. 
She also corresponded with the king and his governors in 
the Netherlands. Notwithstanding the prince’s kindness and 
patience, she at length left him altogether. So ferocious had 
she become that she beat her servants with clubs; and her 



THE PONT NOBLE. l8l 













































1575- William the Silent's Third Marriage. 183 

intemperance, profanity, and licentiousness at last led her 
uncle, the Elector of Saxony, to imprison her as a lunatic. 
After obtaining a divorce from this wretched woman, whose 
hand he had secured by artifice, the prince took for his 
third wife the Princess Charlotte of Bourbon, daughter of 
the Duke of Montpensier, the most zealous of the Catholic 
princes of France. Forced to enter a convent in early life, 
she had become an abbess, but afterward joined the Prot¬ 
estants, and lived at the court of the Elector Palatine of 
Germany. Her vows as a nun being declared illegal by 
the French bishops, and her father having abandoned her, 
the princess felt free to accept Orange’s offer of marriage, 
which was made by a letter presented by his friend St. 
Aldegonde. The match gave great offence to the Land¬ 
grave of Hesse and the Elector of Saxony, uncle and grand¬ 
father of the prince’s divorced wife, and his brother John 
urged him not to imperil his interests and the Protestant 
cause by opposing their wishes. But William resolved to 
gratify his own tastes in the matter, though in so doing he 
alienated the German princes and provoked the French gov¬ 
ernment. The marriage accordingly took place at Brill on 
the 12th of June, the wedding festival being held at Dort, 
with all sorts of gayeties except dancing. 

An event which occurred in the North of Holland about 
this time showed the bad effect of Alva’s example on the 
governor of that portion of the country. This man, Diedrich 
Sonoy, having discovered a conspiracy in aid of a Spanish 
invasion, set up an imitation Council of Blood, and thus 
cruelly tortured the innocent as well as the guilty. Orange 
promptly stopped these atrocities; but Sonoy was not a Hol¬ 
lander, and his power and services to the patriot cause made 
it unsafe for the government to punish him. 

An even more daring Spanish expedition than that over the 
Drowned Land was successful against some of the islands of 


1 84 


History of the Netherlands. 


Zealand during the year. Traitors showed the Grand Com¬ 
mander the way to avoid the fleet which was in a position to 
defeat his skilful plans. The invaders marched in midnight 
darkness, Sept. 27, 1575, breast-high through the water. 
Though assailed by the bold islanders not only with firearms, 
but with harpoons, boat-hooks, and even with flails, the 
Spaniards, under Don Osorio d’Ulloa, captured both Duive- 
land and Schouwen. The states’ troops fled in terror to the 
city of Zierickzee, which was soon closely besieged by Mon¬ 
dragon. This expedition cut the province of Zealand in two, 
and gave the enemy a foothold on the ocean. 

These misfortunes forced the prince and the states, early 
in October, to seek foreign aid, as their own means were 
nearly exhausted. It was the first attempt to throw off the 
yoke of Spain, and was reluctantly made -by the two loyal 
little provinces that Philip’s tyranny had alienated. The idea 
of independence was not then thought of, the only change 
proposed being from one monarch to another. England was 
first approached, the appeal to the queen being based on her 
leading Protestant position and descent from Philippa of 
Hainault, wife of Edward III. Requesens sent Champagny, 
brother of Cardinal Granvelle, to oppose this application. 
Elizabeth, as Orange expected, trifled with the states’ envoys, 
who returned April 19, 1576, after four months’ absence. 
Her fear of Philip’s aiding her own rebels in Scotland was 
stronger than her sympathy with the struggling provinces or 
her dread of their acquisition by France, where the revolt of 
the Duke of Alen^on, brother of Henry HI., blocked their 
negotiations. Queen Elizabeth’s refusal of her promised aid 
severely crippled their fleet. Their commerce was preyed 
upon by English Catholic privateers, whose cruelties incited 
retaliation. An embargo having been laid on all Dutch ves¬ 
sels in English waters, the Prince of Orange seized the Lon¬ 
don merchant fleet in the Scheldt, valued at a million dollars. 



CITY GATE. 


85 














1576. Death of the Grand Coimnarider. 187 

Under threat of war the ships were released, but the incensed 
queen now half resolved to capture Flushing, and make terms 
with Philip. Meanwhile, Requesens, whose army received 
most of its supplies from England, was angry at the com¬ 
plaints of outrages of his troops in the obedient provinces, in 
response to his demands for money. ‘‘ Oh, these estates ! 
these estates ! ” he cried, '^may the Lord deliver me from 
these estates 1 ” Yet he had gained ground since the great 
mutiny of his troops two years before, which had obliged 
him to exact a loan of four hundred thousand crowns from 
the authorities of Antwerp to pay their arrears of wages. 

As the only means of saving his country from the clutches 
of Spain, William the Silent had formed a desperate resolve. 
It was to embark the entire population of Holland and Zea¬ 
land, with their effects, on board the various vessels which 
could be collected in the Netherlands, and sail across the 
ocean to some land beyond the reach of the tyrant. Before 
leaving for their new homes, the people were to burn the 
windmills, cut through the dykes, and open the sluices, so 
that there should be nothing left to Philip but a watery waste. 
This sublime resolve, which might have changed the history 
of America as well as of Europe, was destined not to be 
carried out. Its fulfilment was prevented by the death of 
the Grand Commander, Requesens. He was taken off by a 
fever, March 5, 1576, at the age of fifty-one, after ruling the 
Netherlands for about two years and a half. Though ham¬ 
pered by mutinous troops and Philip’s neglect, he had seri¬ 
ously weakened the national cause. His character was 
strongly marked in his face, which had an expression of 
mingled dignity and mildness, and his ability and prudence 
have been generally recognized.^ 

1 Requesens,” says the judicious De Thou, “was a man of extreme mod¬ 
eration and great experience, and had induced the king to send him to the 
Netherlands to win them back to their allegiance by reversing the policy of 


188 History of the Netherlands, 

The king’s delay in appointing a new governor was of great 
advantage to the patriots, as the ruling council of state was 
almost wholly composed of their own countrymen. Philip 
was confirmed in his stationary policy by the advice of Joachim 
Hopper, a learned jurist, who, though long chief of the Neth- 
erland bureau, had little business capacity. The danger was 
perceived by his master, Viglius, the shrewd old counsellor 
of the regent, who said sadly, '' The Prince of Orange and his 
beggars do not sleep, nor will they be quiet, till they have 
used this chance to do us a great injury.” Though only a 
part of Holland and Zealand was under his control, Haarlem 
and the disloyal Amsterdam being in the enemy’s hands, 
William the Silent toiled to unite the fifteen loyal provinces 
against Philip. Despite the poverty of the two little sand¬ 
banks which he still ruled, the ruined dykes were rebuilt, and 
a law was passed to prevent for some time the slaughter of 
cattle, sheep, and poultry, which had become very scarce. 

A new and more perfect union was formed between Holland 
and Zealand, April 25, 1576. This gave representation in the 
states to the cities and the nobility, but conferred supreme 
power on Father WilKam,” as the people called their beloved 
prince. Though Protestantism was declared to be the reli¬ 
gion of the country, he prevented the persecution of Cath¬ 
olics. He also opened negotiations with the French Duke 
of Alengon, and sent a fleet, under Admiral Boisot, to relieve 
the city of Zierickzee. But the gallant admiral perished in 
the attempt, and the most important place in Zealand fell 
into the hands of the enemy on the 21st of June. A terrible 

Alva. But he found the fires of revolt fiercer than ever. The wounds inflicted 
by the duke’s tyranny were still bleeding. In order to maintain the royal au¬ 
thority in the provinces, he was forced to sustain a war which his predecessor 
had begun, and the Flemings, feeling only the continuance of the conflict, did 
not understand the change of policy.” — ‘‘ Histoire Universelle,” tom. vii. p. 364, 
Londres, 1734. 



MATCHLOCK. 


189 





1576. Fierce Spanish Mutineers. 191 

mutiny among their own troops soon forced them to aban¬ 
don the country. 

Rendered desperate by want of money, the unpaid Spanish 
soldiers in Zealand swarmed into Brabant, where they com¬ 
mitted such outrages that the king denounced them as trai¬ 
tors and murderers. He tried to soothe the enraged people 
by promises to quell the disturbances and right their wrongs. 
Meanwhile the mutiny became general. Bloody contests 
took place between reckless soldiers and indignant citizens. 
Orange urged the states to unite against the Spaniards. His 
troops boldly imprisoned most of the state-council, suspected 
of favoring the enemy, in Brussels, September 5, and thus 
destroyed the Council of Blood. They aided also in the 
attack on the citadel of Ghent, the prince having given or¬ 
ders that the Catholic and Protestant worship should be 
equally respected. The castles of Antwerp, Valenciennes, 
Utrecht, Culemburg, Viane, and Alost were also in the hands 
of the mutineers. 

While the siege of the fortress of Ghent was being pressed, 
the congress of the provinces opened its session in the city 
about the middle of October. It was a period of uncertainty 
and alarm. Maestricht, which had been wrested from the 
Spaniards, was recaptured and brutally punished. Antwerp, 
the richest city in the world, was in danger from the Spanish 
mutineers, who held its citadel and neighboring fortifications. 
A conspiracy to betray the place nearly succeeded through 
the dulness of one of its commanders and the treachery of 
another. Although about six thousand soldiers came to the 
aid of Antwerp from Brussels, little confidence was placed in 
these fiery but unsteady troops, who were commanded by the 
incapable Marquis of Havr^. They were Walloons from those 
Belgic provinces that had always been more noted for ardor 
than endurance. Champagny, the governor of Antwerp, 
though a Catholic and the brother of Cardinal Granvelle, 
hated the Spaniards, and was eager to aid in their expulsion. 


ig2 . History of .yhe Netherlands, 

To defend the city against the citadel, barriers were built 
under fire from the enemy’s guns. These were simply breast¬ 
works, which women had aided the men in erecting, and 
against which were piled bales of goods, casks of earth, and 
upturned wagons. Owing to the neglect of his Walloon 
officers Champagny was obliged to enlist citizens in the work 
of mounting cannon to bombard the castle. 

Before long, three thousand mutineers from a distance suc¬ 
ceeded in joining their brethren in the citadel. They were 
under the command of Navarrete, their “ Eletto,” or chosen 
chief, and,, as they marched, the green branches which they 
had placed in their helmets as presages of victory gave them 
the appearance of a moving wood. These fierce soldiers 
had sworn not to eat or drink till they had entered the castle. 
Nearly six thousand Spanish veterans soon rushed furiously 
upon the city, crushing down the barriers and scattering the 
Walloon troops like chaff before the wind. As they clattered 
through the streets the invaders shouted fiercely, St. James, 
Spain, blood, flesh, fire, sack ! ! ” Even the faithful German 
soldiers were swept on in the tide of retreat which the gallant 
Champagny vainly tried to check. The poorly armed citizens 
fought desperately, but could not withstand the ferocious 
Spaniards, who were joined by a band of treacherous Ger¬ 
mans. Overwhelmed by trampling cavalry and fierce infan¬ 
try, the devoted burghers died bravely for their homes. The 
fight became a massacre which reddened the pavements. 
Pressed by their furious pursuers, hundreds plunged into the 
river Scheldt. Champagny was fortunate enough to escape 
to the fleet of the Prince of Orange. 

A desperate stand was made by the defenders of Antwerp 
in the great square about the city hall. They shot down their 
assailants from the windows and balconies of houses. The 
invaders, who had brought torches and kindling materials 
with them, now set fire to the superb palaces of the guilds on 



la 


HELMET. 


193 








1576 - The Spanish FuryP 195 

the square. The flames spread to the streets leading to the 
docks, and lighted up the butchery of men, women, and chil¬ 
dren. Eight thousand persons were slaughtered, burned, 
and drowned in the three days of this terrible massacre, 
which was prompted by greed for gold. Frightful tortures 
were used to discover hidden treasure. Six million dollars’ 
worth of property was consumed by the flames, and as much 
more seized by the soldiers. Catholics and Protestants, for¬ 
eigners and natives, were alike • plundered. The splendid 
city was made a wreck. Five hundred marble palaces, among 
them the magnificent City Hall, were blackened ruins. The 
streets and squares were lined with dead bodies. Riot and 
gaming followed murder and pillage in the five days’ sack 
of Antwerp, which began on the 3d of November. The ter¬ 
rible scourge that had thus crushed the rich and prosperous 
city was aptly called the Spanish Fury. It was the most 
frightful atrocity yet committed in the Netherlands, and, 
strange to say, only two hundred of the wretches who per¬ 
petrated it were killed. Had the brave burghers been prop¬ 
erly led and armed they could not have suffered so terribly. 
One of the officers captured by the invaders was Philip, 
Count Egmont, elder son of the famous victim of the king’s 
tyranny. Among the killed was the Eletto,” who fell in 
the first attack on the barricades, with his standard, which 
was emblazoned with the image of the crucified Saviour and 
of the Virgin Mary. Jerome de Roda, the escaped state 
councillor, who had assumed the governorship of the prov¬ 
inces, wrote a glowing account of the affair to Philip, 
praising D’Avila, Romero, Vargas, and other leaders of the 
massacre. 

The Spanish Fury roused the horror-stricken Netherlanders 
to rally round the Prince of Orange, whose efforts for union 
were untiring. By the celebrated treaty called the Pacifica¬ 
tion of Ghent, which was concluded on Nov. 8, 1576, the 


196 History of ihe Netherla 7 ids, 

very day of the capture of the citadel, Protestantism was 
privately permitted in the fifteen Catholic provinces and 
recognized as the creed of Holland and Zealand. The In¬ 
quisition was abolished, recent confiscations of property were 
annulled, and the expulsion of the Spaniards resolved upon. 
These results were largely due to William the Silent, who 
now saw his great work welcomed with joy throughout the 
Netherlands, which were once more united in his support. 
The recovery of the greater part of Zealand from the invaders 
whom the mutiny had left almost powerless, added to the 
general enthusiasm. Everything looked favorable for the 
provinces, but a cloud had already appeared to darken their 
prospects. 


CHAPTER XIV. 


DON JOHN OF AUSTRIA. 

The day before the Antwerp massacre an Italian cavalier, 
accompanied by six soldiers and a swarthy-looking man' who 
was apparently a Moorish slave, rode into Luxemburg, a 
border city of the Netherlands. The supposed slave, who 
had stained his fair hair and face to avoid recognition while 
passing through France, was the new Spanish governor of the 
provinces. He was now approaching thirty years of age, of 
middle height, and well proportioned. His eyes were blue 
and sparkling, and his bright curling locks clustered about his 
ample forehead and hung down upon his graceful shoulders. 
The disguise he wore suited his romantic and adventurous 
disposition; for the pretended slave was a son of the Emperor 
Charles V., and, though intended for the church, had become 
renowned as a soldier. After triumphing over the rebellious 
Moors in Spain, he had won world-wide fame in the great 
naval battle of Lepanto, which broke the spell of the power of 
the Turks, who had long been the terror of Europe. Though 
the Christian fleet numbered such veteran generals and admi-* 
rals as the Spaniards Santa Cruz and Requesens, the Vene¬ 
tians Venieri and Barbarigo, the Roman Colonna, and that 
dreaded scourge of the Moslems, the illustrious Genoese, 
John Andrew Doria, Pope Pius V., the chief of the Holy 
League, had at Philip’s request conferred the command upon 


198 


History of the Netherlands, 


his youthful half-brother. The result justified the choice j for 
the victory was overwhelming.^ 

Six hundred vessels of war, carrying two hundred thousand 
men, were engaged in the terrific conflict. Yet no holiday 
pageant could be more picturesque than the appearance of 
the great fleets as they swept on to the bloodiest sea-fight of 
modern times. The white turbans and embroidered tunics 
of the swarthy Ottomans, their gilded bows, polished Damas¬ 
cus scimetars, and crests of jewels, formed a vivid contrast to 
the steel helmets and breastplates of the Spaniards, which, with 
their arquebuses and Toledo blades, flashed in the October 
sunlight. The gorgeous ensigns of the rival religions gave a 
deeper impressiveness to the splendid scene. Above the 
Mussulman host floated the famous banner of the Prophet, 
the holy of holies,’’ covered with texts from the Koran in 
golden letters, and inscribed with twenty-eight thousand 
nine hundred impressions of the sacred name of Allah. The 
Christians reared aloft the great standard of the Holy League 
which had been presented by the Pope, with his blessing, to 
his faithful followers. ^ This splendid array was set off by the 
glories of a landscape gilded with the charm of classic asso¬ 
ciation. In those Ionian seas, beneath the sun-lit heights of 
Actium, Antony and Octavius had contended for the empire 
of the world sixteen hundred years before, and now the em¬ 
blazoned banners of the Crescent and the Cross were raised 
in a still more momentous struggle. 

After kneeling in prayer with his whole fleet, Don John, 
ably supported by his allies, rushed furiously into battle, amid 
the roar and smoke of cannon. With reckless courage he 
ran his galley alongside the great ship of Ali Pasha, the Turk- 

^ “The Turks,” says Ranke, in his “Ottoman and Spanish Monarchies,” 
“ lost all their old confidence after the battle of Lepanto. They had no equal to 
oppose to Don John of Austria. The day of Lepanto shattered the Ottoman 
supremacy.” — “ FUrsten u. Volker von Sud-Europa,” b. i. s. 79. Berlin, 1857. 




















1 



1576. The Battle of Lepanto. 201 

ish admiral, and though attacked by seven other large vessels, 
came off victorious. The galley of the Moslem chief was 
destroyed, and his head was brought to Don John as a 
trophy. Horrified at the sight, the chivalrous young com¬ 
mander exclaimed, Of what use can such a present be to 
me? ” and ordered it thrown into the sea. But his order was 
disobeyed; and the ghastly object, raised aloft on a pike, 
became the signal for the complete overthrow of the enemy. 

The battle of Lepanto took place on Sunday the 7th of 
October, 1571. A youth of twenty-four was that day fighting 
on board one of Don John’s galleys as a common soldier, who 
was to confer greater glory upon Spain than any of the states¬ 
men and warriors who have given her renown. This was 
Cervantes, the immortal author of ‘‘ Don Quixote,” who then 
received a wound which disabled his left hand for life. His 
valor and devotion were nobly shown in that great battle and 
in four years more of active service in the war. He was then 
captured by the Algerines, and suffered a long and cruel im¬ 
prisonment. It was not till the death of Philip H. had al¬ 
layed the blighting influence of his despotism upon Spain 
that the humble soldier of Lepanto wrote the great romance 
which has charmed the world by its humor, sentiment, and 
pathos. 

Don John’s conduct after his great victory showed his 
noble-hearted nature. He was unwearied in his care for 
the sick and wounded, and was very kind to Venieri, the 
passionate Venetian captain-general, whom he had been 
obliged to correct a few days before the battle. The two 
captive sons of the Turkish admiral — who, like all the prison¬ 
ers, were doomed to slavery — were released tlirough the 
considerate commander’s efforts. His chivalrous courtesy to 
these orphan youths was deeply appreciated by their sister, 
who had sent him a costly present, which he gave to the 
younger of her two brothers, a lad of thirteen. Don John’s 


202 History of the Netherlands. 

own share of the rich booty of Lepanto was, by his orders, 
distributed among the captors, and the thirty thousand 
crowns presented to him by the city of Messina were de¬ 
voted to the relief of the suffering survivors of the great bat¬ 
tle. The victor now proved by his attention to study and 
business, and his interest in the society of statesmen and 
men of science, amid the round of pleasuring, that his ambi¬ 
tion was above that of a mere warrior. 

Though Don John’s father was an emperor, his mother, 
Barbara Blomberg, was of extremely humble birth. She had 
attracted Charles V. by her singing; but her temper proved 
to be so harsh and discordant that even the terrible Alva 
stood in awe of her. Her bastard son had been brought up 
in charge of Louis Quixada, one of the emperor’s trusty offi¬ 
cers, who held the secret of his birth. While riding out 
one day to see the royal hunt, the youth was astonished at 
his sudden deference to him. This surprise was increased 
when the king rode up, and, after some confusing inquiries, 
embraced him as a brother and the son of his imperial 
Majesty, Charles V. The lad was then only thirteen years 
old, and at twenty-two Philip opened to him the warlike career 
in which he was to win celebrity. 

Don John of Austria, this bold crusader, was in Italy dream¬ 
ing of the conquest of heretical England, of dethroning 
Elizabeth, and freeing and marrying Mary Queen of Scots 
as its sovereign, when he heard of his appointment as gov¬ 
ernor-general of the Netherlands. With daring confidence 
he pushed on after receiving his instructions, in the hope of 
settling affairs there in time to use the Spanish troops for 
carrying out his scheme of foreign conquest. But he had 
arrived too late : the terrible outrages of the Spanish troops 
had united the provinces against Philip. Yet the king was 
still bent- on conciliation, and had selected Don John be¬ 
cause, as the magnanimous son of the emperor, Charles V., 



DON JOHN OF AUSTRIA, 


203 












' • k 


1576. Don yoJm s Difficulties. 20^ 

his personal fascinations would be potent with the people. 
Cardinal Granvelle, who approved the choice, wrote that, as 
Don John went without an army, his mission was evidently 
peaceful. The king had, in fact, hesitated about sending the 
conqueror of Lepanto to the Netherlands, lest his concilia¬ 
tory purposes should be doubted. His secret instructions 
to the new governor showed that he did not intend to tol¬ 
erate heresy, but he believed this would disappear before his 
clemency. But the Prince of Orange feared that if the 
Catholic provinces submitted to Philip they would aid in 
bringing Holland and Zealand under his persecuting tyranny. 
Distrusting both the king and the governor, he warned the 
states-general against them. He even advised the seizure of 
Don John’s person as a means of bringing Philip to terms. 
He urged that no agreement should be made with the gov¬ 
ernor till the foreign troops had been sent away. “ Beware 
meantime,” he added, “of disbanding your own; for that 
would put the knife into his hands to cut your throats,” 

Fearing that the Netherlanders would attempt to capture 
him, as they had attempted to capture his predecessors, Alva 
and Requesens, the governor, had, on his arrival at Luxemburg, 
demanded hostages for his security. This demand was urged 
by Orange as a fresh reason for distrusting him. Don John’s 
readiness to listen to the deputies of the states-general made 
them bold even to insolence. One advised the governor to 
desert the king’s cause, and assume the sovereignty himself. 
This insulting suggestion so enraged the chivalrous soldier 
that he was with difficulty prevented from chastising the 
offender on the spot. One of the proud nobles declared 
that Don John’s illegitimate birth and inferior rank should 
cause his rejection as governor-general. These affronts nat¬ 
urally roused his indignation. 

While the negotiations were going on, early in January, 

1577, the leading men in all the provinces formed a league 


2o6 History of the Netherlands, 

for the purpose of enforcing the national rights. An agree¬ 
ment was extensively signed, pledging the people to expel the 
Spaniards without delay, and to maintain the liberties of the 
country under the Catholic religion and the king’s authority. 
This celebrated act was called the ‘‘ Union of Brussels.” 

After fierce disputes, which came near ending in blows, 
Don John agreed to send the Spanish troops out of the 
country and confirm the Pacification of Ghent. The states 
had secured his support of the famous treaty by written as¬ 
surances from the professors of the University of Louvain, 
and nearly all the Catholic clergy of the Netherlands, that it 
did not impair the supremacy of the ancient religion, and a 
declaration from the state council that it did not interfere 
with Philip’s sovereignty. The concessions of the fiery gov¬ 
ernor pleased the states-general so much that they signed at 
Marche en Famine, Feb. 12, 1577, a treaty called the “Per¬ 
petual Edict,” before ascertaining what William of Orange 
thought of it. The prince was sadly disappointed with this 
act, which guaranteed the national rights, the departure of 
the foreign troops, the maintenance of the Pacification of 
Ghent in the interest of the Catholic religion and of the 
king’s authority, and the acceptance of the governor-general. 
He had lately read a number of intercepted letters from 
Philip, Don John, and other Spanish dignitaries, which re¬ 
newed his suspicion of their bad faith.i His objections to 
the Perpetual Edict were that it swept away the religious 
freedom which was assured by the treaty of Ghent, and 
exposed Holland and Zealand to bloody persecution, while 
restoring to the king the fortresses that overawed the great 


1 These letters, however, do not, in the opinion of a candid Dutch scholar 
who has thrown much light on Netherland history, reflect on Don John’s in¬ 
tegrity. His nature, it is truthfully said, was impetuous, but not deceitful. — 
Groen van Prinsterer, “Archives de la Maison d’Orange-Nassau,” tom. v. 
PP- 477 , 478. 


1577* Intrigues of Queen Elizabeth, 207 

cities. He agreed, however, in the name of these two prov¬ 
inces, to sign the Edict provided the states-general would 
promise to hold aloof from Don John and drive out the 
Spanish troops, if they did not depart within the time fixed 
upon. Though the king confirmed the short-lived treaty, the 
prince kept Holland and Zealand from accepting it. 

The success of Don John with the states was partly due to 
the intrigues of Elizabeth of England. She wished the prov¬ 
inces to remain in Philip’s control, and had loaned them two 
hundred thousand dollars in order that his troops might be 
sent away and all difficulties settled. The queen was afraid 
of Protestant agitation, and sought safety in secret assurances 
to both parties that her sympathies were with them alone. 
William the Silent warned her of the danger of trusting in 
selfish princes; but she could not understand his devotion 
to the great cause of religious liberty. 

Don John was now eager to secure the support of Orange. 
‘‘This is the pilot,” he wrote to Philip, “ who guides the bark. 
He alone can wreck or save it. The greatest obstacles would 
be removed if he could be gained.” There was a learned 
professor at the University of Louvain, Doctor Elbertus Leo- 
ninus, whom Requesens had once sent on a fruitless mission 
to the prince, and Don John now resolved to try the effect of 
his logic and persuasion on the accomplished rebel. He was 
instructed to offer the most tempting rewards to Orange if he 
would aid the royal cause, and to threaten the ruin of himself 
and his family if he persisted in his evil courses. Don John 
sincerely desired to pacify the provinces; but he could not 
see, as William did, the danger of yielding their liberties to 
the bigoted Philip. It was first intended to offer to invest 
the kidnapped Count of Buren *with his father’s rank and 
dignities in the Netherlands, on condition of his retiring 
into Germany; but the time had gone by for such a pol¬ 
icy. The learned professor’s mission proved a failure. Dis- 


2o8 History of the Netherlands. 

trusting Don John’s sincerity, the prince reminded his agent 
of the treachery by which Egmont and Horn, the con¬ 
federate nobles, and Admiral Coligny, had suffered. He 
added that he should lay the matter before the states of 
Holland and Zealand, whose liberties were threatened by 
the Perpetual Edict and the intrigues of leading Catholics.^ 

Though Don John was not to become governor-general 
till the removal of the Spanish troops, he found nobles and 
courtiers eager for his honors and offices. The people, too, 
were fascinated by the emperor’s son, who had come forward 
without a guard of soldiers to appeal to their loyalty. Yet 
he could not bend the integrity of William of Orange. While 
captivating the multitude with his charming manners and 
handsome face, and by his interest in their festive gatherings, 
he feared the deeper influence of the Silent Prince. Like 
his imperial father, Don John had won the golden popinjay, the 
prize of skill with the cross-bow among the merry Flemish 
burghers. At a grand festival of the military guilds at Lou¬ 
vain, this new king of the cross-bowmen for the year was 
welcomed as a messenger of peace. 

To the surprise of the prince, Don John kept his promise 
to send away the Spanish troops, and even advanced money 
for this purpose. Though both the king and the states were 
slow in providing means for their removal, the hated soldiery 
at last quitted the country, towards the end of x\pril, 1577. 
The joy of the people at their departure was lessened by the 
thought that ten thousand German soldiers were left behind 
in the royal service. The states-general had insisted that the 
Spaniards should go by land, though the governor’s- secret 

1 There is an interesting account of these and later negotiations in the preface 
to vol. iii. of Gachard, “ Correspondance de Guillaume le Taciturne,” chap, ix., 
with extracts from Don John’s letters. Considering his excitable nature, he 
showed great moderation, and Gachard remarks that the attitude of William 
the Silent was one cause of his resorting to desperate measures. 























































1577- Death and Character of Vigtins. 211 

plan was to embark them for the invasion of England. Don 
John was now greeted with gay festivities, as a liberator, on his 
May-day entrance into Brussels, and three days afterward 
took the oath as governor-general. Yet he distrusted alike 
the time-serving courtiers and the honest burghers. He was 
disgusted with the drinking habits of the Netherlanders. 
In his private letters he described them as “ drunkards ” and 
‘‘ wine-skins,” and with Spanish exaggeration declared that he 
was in hell among a pack of scoundrels. 

‘Ms this the prince who will give us peace?” sneeringly 
asked the old state-councillor Viglius, as the victor of Lepanto 
made his triumphal entry into Brussels. The aged jurist had 
no confidence in the young soldier. A week afterward, Viglius 
was dead. More than half of his seventy years had been 
spent in public life, and he had passed safely through perils 
which had proved fatal to many of his associates. But, 
though long prominent in the affairs of the Netherlands, he 
was a politician rather than a statesman or patriot. His 
learning and ability were used for his own aggrandizement 
and the oppression of his country. He had sustained the 
Inquisition and the edicts, favored the retention of the 
Spanish troops, assisted in forming the Council of Blood, and 
furnished Philip with legal pretences for the execution of 
Egmont and Horn. Although opposed to Alva’s system of 
taxation, because he was shrewd enough to foresee its failure, 
and advocating a general pardon for the rebels, he remained 
in the state council and profited by its abuses. Acquiring 
rich benefices in the Catholic Church, he appropriated their 
valuables, and was accused of bestowing them on his hereti¬ 
cal relatives. Naturally timid, his greed for gain made him 
a tool of despotic power; and, though he established a col¬ 
lege and a hospital, he was too selfish to be truly benevolent. 

Philip of Spain had a trusted secretary of state named 
Antonio Perez. He not only convinced the suspicious king 


212 History of the Netherlands. 

that Don John and his secretary, Escovedo, were plotting 
treason, but, being an artful as well as a treacherous villain, 
succeeded in deceiving all three of them. The confiden¬ 
tial letters which Perez encouraged the governor and his 
secretary to write to him were adroitly turned against them. 
Don J ohn’s eagerness to leave the Netherlands, his urgent 
requests for money, and plan to seize the English crown, 
were represented as part of a conspiracy to dethrone Philip. 
This is what Perez wrote to Escovedo about the king’s 
scheme of assassinating William the Silent: Always bear in 
mind the need of finding a good occasion for finishing Or¬ 
ange ; since, beside the service to our master and the states, 
it will be worth something to ourselves.” In reply Don 
John’s secretary wrote, “ You know that the finishing of 
Orange is very near my heart; ” adding that he should never 
forget the job, but that it would be hard to find a proper 
person to take the risk. 

All this time Don John himself was afraid of being seized 
by the rebels. “ The people here,” he wrote, “ seem be¬ 
witched by the Prince of Orange. They love him, they fear 
him, and wish to have him for their master. They inform 
him of everything, and take no resolution without consulting 
him.” 

The prince meanwhile was busy in inspiriting the people, 
though his family and friends were, anxious for the safety of 
his life. His son, who was still forced to remain in Spain, 
had not yet ceased to comfort him, despite Philip’s efforts 
for ten years to destroy his love of home. In fact, the 
young man had thrown out of the window and killed the 
captain of his Spanish guard, who had dared to speak against 
his dear absent father. So eager was the king to retain the 
youth that Don John had early insisted that the states should 
agree to prevent Orange from trying to rescue him. In his 
objections to the Perpetual Edict, the prince had referred to 


1577- Religious Persecution Renewed. 213 

his son’s captivity as a menace to the life and liberty of every 
man in the country. He was never to behold his beloved 
boy again ; but, could he have foreseen that Philip’s arts would 
turn his hatred of the Spaniards into opposition to his coun¬ 
try’s cause, the great patriot would have sooner seen him in 
his grave. 

Orange steadfastly opposed the submission of the fifteen 
Catholic provinces to Don John, because the peace thus 
obtained would be only a cover for an assault on the liber¬ 
ties of Holland and Zealand. The religious toleration se¬ 
cured by the Pacification of Ghent was endangered by 
fanatics on both sides. William was complained of even by 
such a statesman as his friend St. Aldegonde, for refusing to 
exclude the Anabaptists in Holland from citizenship at the 
demand of other Protestant zealots. His second peace 
mission to the prince having failed, Don John wrote to the 
king that Orange was full of hatred to his majesty. Re¬ 
ligious persecution was again employed to subdue the people, 
a poor tailor in Mechlin being beheaded June 15, in pres¬ 
ence of the governor, for refusing to give up the names of the 
preachers at a heretical meeting which he had attended; 
yet the intimate friends of William the Silent were displeased 
at his efforts to prevent the execution. Don John, sustained 
by the Bishop of Arras, declared that it was justified by the 
Pacification of Ghent, which forbade the preaching of heresy 
or any interference with the ancient religion and the public 
peace in the Catholic provinces. 

The Prince of Orange had wisely strengthened his cause 
by popular aid. Although the nobles generally hated the 
Spaniards, lack of sympathy with the people made them 
dally with the two parties as self-interest prompted. Even 
Don John distrusted the grandees who held the great Nether- 
land fortresses for Spain. He therefore intrigued with the 
German garrisons to surrender them to him. The needy 


214 History of the Netherlands, 

states were in debt to these troops; but the leading officers 
rejected their fair offer of settlement, in consequence of Don 
John’s warning that this was part of a scheme to destroy 
them. The governor was, however, still in dread of being 
captured, if not assassinated. His fears were increased by 
plots for his imprisonment told him by the Duke of Aerschot, 
the commander of the Antwerp citadel. Yet this leading 
Catholic grandee also revealed to the Prince of Orange the 
•secret plans of his enemies. He was eager to gain favor 
with both parties ; but neither had confidence in him. 

Don John’s alarm for his safety at last made him flee 
from Brussels to Mechlin in May, and a month later to 
Namur. There he seized, early in July, the famous citadel 
which the states, against the protests of Orange, had failed to 
secure. The romantic governor had entertained sumptuously 
the fascinating Margaret of Valois, the French Queen of Na¬ 
varre, who visited his dominions to intrigue for her brother, 
the Duke of Alen9on, as an aspirant for the Netherland sov¬ 
ereignty. The crusader’s hospitality to her was a cloak for 
his attempt on the cattle. 

About the time that Don John was taking one of his own 
fortresses by stratagem his secretary, Escovedo, set out for 
Spain. Some eight months afterward Perez, having failed 
to poison the poor dupe at meal-time, had him assassinated 
on the 31st of March, 1578, by hired ruffians in the streets 
of Madrid. The crime was committed by secret order of 
Philip, who had been led by Perez to believe that Escove¬ 
do’s visit was part of a plot with Don John to dethrone 
him. The real reason for the assassination was that Escovedo 
had discovered an amorous intrigue of Perez, and threat¬ 
ened to reveal it to the king. The assassins were hand¬ 
somely rewarded by Philip, whom this amour affected. 

The Prince of Orange had busied himself with directing 
the rebuilding of the dykes in Holland and Zealand, which 



ORANGE ON HIS WAY TO BRUSSELS. 215 



















1577- Welcome to''Father William^ 217 

had been destroyed for protection against the enemy. On 
the completion of this toilsome and costly work, he made a 
tour through the provinces, in the summer of 1577, by re¬ 
quest of the people. Wherever he went he was greeted 
with the loving welcome of men, women, and children, who 
hailed him as “Father William,” their preserver. While 
visiting Utrecht, an alarming accident assured him of the 
loyalty of that doubtful province. On entering the ancient 
city, amid the roar of artillery, a shot passed through his 
carriage-window, striking him on the breast. His terrified 
wife, who had feared an assault, threw her arms about his 
neck, crying, “We are betrayed!” But the prince com¬ 
forted her by showing that a wad from one of the can¬ 
non of welcome had caused her alarm. Amid the joyful 
greeting of the multitude, a fatal accident occurred. A little 
child fell from a high balcony to the street, in front of the 
prince’s carriage, and was instantly killed. William jumped 
from his seat as the procession stopped, clasped the body in 
his arms, and delivered it with tender words and looks to the 
son-owing parents. Utrecht soon granted the demands of 
Orange for religious toleration, the treaty of “ Satisfaction ” 
being signed on the 9th of October. 

Meanwhile the prince warned the states-general against the 
designs of Don John, who had justified his seizure of the 
castle of Namur by fears for his safety and the plots of 
Orange. Both parties complained of violations of the Pacifi¬ 
cation of Ghent. Intercepted letters of the governor-general 
put the states on their guard against him. Distrusting the 
Duke of Aerschot, Don John had brought him from Antwerp 
to Namur, at the time of his visit to Margaret of Valois, and 
left the citadel in charge of the Lord of Treslong, an un¬ 
doubted royalist. He had then sent Van Ende, the treacher¬ 
ous German, whose cavalry had butchered the citizens in the 
Antwerp Fury, to aid in securing the city. But the magis- 


218 History of the Netherlands. 

trates refused to admit the faithless commander and his 
troops despite the request of the governor-general, and they 
were afterward dispersed by the states’ forces. One of the 
officers in the castle then intrigued with the Lord of Liede- 
kerke, the governor of Antwerp, to secure the stronghold by 
bribing the garrison. The attempt was successful, and Tres- 
long was imprisoned; but there was danger that the unpaid 
German hirelings would revolt, and massacre the citizens. 
The terrified merchants had offered three hundred thousand 
crowns, half of which they were ready to pay down if the 
threatening troops who had barricaded themselves in the 
town would depart. With the gold in their hands they 
looked on at a safe distance, while their agents bargained 
with the officers. As the negotiations dragged along, the 
prince’s fleet was seen approaching the city. The beggars 
are coming ! ” was the cry, as a shot from the squadron 
struck the barricades and startled the hireling soldiers, who 
fled in terror from the fierce Zealanders, without waiting for 
the proffered gold. 

Don John’s bold den\ands upon the states were now scorn¬ 
fully rejected, his excuses and threats being alike unavailing. 
A few nobles like Berlaymont remained faithful to the gov¬ 
ernor-general, who bitterly bewailed the insolence and in¬ 
gratitude of the Netherlanders; but the Duke of Aerschot 
and others made haste to desert his sinking cause. The 
hero of Lepanto honestly wished to overcome heresy and 
rebellion by peaceful means; but he had provoked war by 
Ms seizure of Namur and his attempt upon Antwerp. As 
this policy had been forced upon him by the acts of Orange, 
Don John justified his course and sought to win over the 
alienated states. Meanwhile the principal fortresses which 
had enforced Spanish tyranny in the provinces were levelled 
to the ground by the patriots. This example was set by the 
authorities of Antwerp, in August, in destroying that part of 


1577 - Orange's Grand Reception in BrusselL 219 

the great citadel which threatened their liberties. More than 
ten thousand persons of all ranks joined in the joyful work of 
deliverance. With fierce cries the statue of the hated Alva 
was dragged through the streets from the obscure corner 
where it had rested safely since it was thrown down by Re- 
quesens, and, after being battered by thousands of sledge¬ 
hammers, was again made into cannon. 

The states-general of the Netherlands, still loyal to Philip, 
had appealed to him for a redress of their grievances ; and, 
while acknowledging Don John’s natural good qualities, they 
urged that his insolence and deception had unfitted him for 
the governorship ; and, though willing to abide by the king’s 
decision, they begged that a legitimate prince of the blood 
should be appointed his successor. 

After eleven years’ absence from Brussels, the splendid 
capital which he had left under the ban of Philip, William of 
Orange returned there on the 23d of September, at the re¬ 
quest of the states-general for his presence and counsel. He 
had first promised their deputies that neither he nor the states 
of Holland and Zealand would allow interference with the 
Catholic religion and the public peace in the other prov¬ 
inces. He shrewdly declined, however, to promise to admit 
the Romish worship into the two Protestant provinces with¬ 
out the consent of their legislative assembly. Yet such were 
the fears for his life in the great city where his enemies had 
long held sway that the states of Holland and Zealand, after 
unwillingly consenting to his visit, had prayers offered daily 
for his safety in all their churches. Remaining a week in 
Antwerp, where he was warmly welcomed and entertained in 
princely style, he left for Brussels by the new canal in a stately 
barge, the members of his suite following in two others, all 
being gayly decorated. He had a glorious reception in the 
beautiful city. Nearly one half the population went several 
miles beyond the gates to welcome him. The nobility 


220 * History of ike Netherlands, 

greeted him on landing, and one of them presented him with 
a beautiful horse, on which he made his entry into Brussels, 
preceded by the members of the states-general and fol¬ 
lowed by the nobles and magistrates. Orange rode between 
Davison, the English envoy, and the Duke of Aerschot. 
Armed burghers acted as escort. The air rang with the 
plaudits of the multitude, and the guilds of rhetoric per¬ 
formed allegorical plays in theatres erected for the purpose 
along the route. In the grand square there was a superb 
display, every building being richly decorated. Splendid 
tapestries in the colors of Brussels ornamented the magnifi¬ 
cent City Hall, and the Brood-huis opposite, where Egmont 
and Horn had been confined, bore the colors of the illustri¬ 
ous guest. The Duke of Aerschot, who had greeted Don 
John five months before, entertained Orange at a grand ban¬ 
quet at which the most eminent public men were assembled 
to do him honor. In the evening great bonfires were lighted 
by the citizens as tokens of joy at the return of their beloved 
prince. It was the proudest day of his life. The people 
welcomed him as a protector in the provinces which he had 
left ten years before as a proscribed fugitive from despotic 
power. 

William of Orange-had arrived in time to put a stop to the 
nearly completed arrangements of the states with Don John. 
Instead of an uncertain peace, the prince was resolved upon 
open war. His demands for a restoration of the liberties of 
the people enraged the fiery governor thus summoned by 
insolent heretics and rebels to surrender the royal authority 
to the state council. He met this hostile challenge of the 
states by a haughty acceptance coupled with a rebuke of their 
professed attachment to the king and the Catholic religion. 
The states vindicated their course in a pamphlet published in 
seven different languages and sent to every ruler in Christen¬ 
dom. This was followed by an earnest reply from Don John. 


1577 - 


The Archduke Matthias. 


221 


Meanwhile the Catholic nobles, who were jealous of the 
influence of Orange with the people, had formed a plot to 
secure the youthful Archduke Matthias, brother of the Em¬ 
peror Rudolph 11 . of Germany, as sovereign of the Nether¬ 
lands. The archduke, who was only twenty years of age, 
blacked his face and stole away at midnight of the 3d of Oc¬ 
tober from Vienna, disguised as a servant. Queen Elizabeth of 
England was almost as angry as Don John at the news. As 
the Duke of Alen9on was also seeking the sovereignty of the 
provinces, she insisted that the Prince of Orange should be 
appointed lieutenant-general for the archduke, as a condition 
of continuing her aid to them. 

William the Silent welcomed the youthful intruder on his 
arrival in Antwerp as a means of combating his enemies 
among the nobles as well as the Spaniards. He thus avoided 
trouble with Germany while strengthening his cause at home. 
The prince’s partisans in Brussels and other Flemish cities 
now took a bold step to bring Matthias under his control. 
They invaded the hall of the states of Brabant and forced 
them to elect Orange ruward or special governor of that 
province. Though William at first declined this almost dic¬ 
tatorial office, which had always been a stepping-stone to 
sovereignty, he accepted it as soon as the popular feeling in 
his favor became manifest. While the states-general were 
opposed to this irregular election, they feared to excite the 
wrath of the people of Brussels by rejecting their favorite. 
But though confirming him as ruward, they limited his 
term of power till the appointment of a governor-general. 
He was also required to preserve the public peace and main¬ 
tain the Catholic religion.^ There were great rejoicings in 

* The fact that the election of Orange as ruward or ruwaert of Brabant 
was due to violence, though not mentioned by English and American historians 
of the Netherlands, has been clearly established by Belgian scholars. In fact, 
the prince himself, when charged in Philip’s ban with securing his election “by 


222 History of the Netherlands. 

the cities at their triumph, but the nobility and clergy were 
alarmed at this proof of the prince’s popularity. Orange 
complained of the fickleness of the nobles, who, after alter¬ 
nately supporting and opposing him under Alva, Requesens, 
and Don John, had, in violation of their oaths, brought over 
the Austrian archduke. 

The Duke of Aerschot, the former governor of the Ant¬ 
werp citadel, who had played false with both parties, was the 
head of the conspirators who had brought Matthias from 
Vienna. He had been made governor of Flanders by the 
states-general against the will of the people, and had intrigued 
against Orange in Ghent, which still retained much of its 
old-time stormy power. Two ambitious young nobles, named 
Ryhove and Imbize, who hated the Catholics and Spaniards 
and were warm partisans of Orange, incited a tumult against 
Aerschot early in November, and would have set fire to his 
palace had he not given himself up to the revolutionists. He 
rushed out in his nightgown, his life being only saved from 
the fury of the mob by Ryhove, who was temporarily placed 
at the head of the goveynment. Imbize, who arrested other 
great personages, was all-powerful in Ghent, and Orange had, 
a year before, earnestly appealed to him to use his influ¬ 
ence in Flanders for union against the Spaniards. Among 
the dignitaries imprisoned was old Hessels, the sleepy mem- 


force and tumult,” did not deny that these means were employed, but declared 
in his memorable “ Apology ” that instead of seeking he had refused the office. 
His subsequent acceptance of it showed that he thought it was time to use this 
exalted position to baffle the designs of his enemies. The important fact, 
which even Motley does not mention, that Orange owed his election to a popu¬ 
lar tumult, is proved by Gachard, “ Correspondance de Guillaume le Taciturne,” 
tom iv., preface, p. Ixvi., and by M. de Robaulx de Soumoy, the learned 
editor of “ Memoires de Frederic Perrenot ” (the famous Champagny), p. Ixix. 
Bruxelles, i860. It is noticeable that both these competent critics trace the 
prince’s subtle agency in this uprising, as well as in the seizure of the Duke of 
Aerschot and other Catholic leaders, which had such serious results for the 
cause of liberty and union in the Netherlands. 


1577- 


Arrest of Catholic Leaders. 


223 


ber of the infamous Council of Blood, who held high official 
position in Ghent. The discovery of a letter apparently writ¬ 
ten by him in great glee at the prospects of Don John’s cause, 
under the rule of Aerschot, and the duke’s imprudent talk 
against Orange, incited the revolt; yet the letter was probably 
forged for the purpose. 

William the Silent, who had secretly encouraged Ryhove’s 
violent measures, soon found that they had been carried 
too far. There was great indignation among the Catholics, 
whose persons and property were at the mercy of the mob. 
The imprisonment of nobles, bishops, and public officers 
alarmed the states-general, and even the council of Brussels 
felt bound to protest against it. Fearing that the patriot 
cause would be injured by their desperate acts, the prince 
requested the leaders of the insurrection to release the pris¬ 
oners. Yet the Duke of Aerschot was the only one then 
liberated, and he was obliged to promise under his hand and 
seal to forgive his captors. Orange did not really desire to 
free the other captives, but he wished to appease the Catho¬ 
lics without offending his supporters in Ghent. He therefore 
wrote conciliatory letters to the leaders of the two parties. 

At the request of the estates of Flanders, the prince visited 
Ghent on the 29th of December, where he had a grand re¬ 
ception. Tar-barrels and torches blazed on his noonday 
passage through the streets. One of the guilds of rhetoric 
exhibited an allegorical drama in St. Jacob’s church, the 
Inquisition, the Pacification, and other recent features of 
Netherland history being represented by persons in quaint 
costume, who addressed each other and the prince in pom¬ 
pous and punning verses. Through his efforts the states- 
general rejected the authority of Don John, and proclaimed 
him an enemy of the country on the 7th of December. 
Three days later a new or “ Closer Union of Brussels ” was 
formed, by which Catholics and Protestants met on the com- 


224 History of the Netherlands. 

mon ground of opposition to foreign tyranny. For the first 
time in the history of the provinces the Reformed religion 
was recognized as possessing* equal rights with the Roman 
Church. This was unhappily the last union of all the Neth¬ 
erlands. It endured less than a month. 

In order to prevent the provinces from falling into the 
hands of the French Duke of Alengon, Queen Elizabeth of 
England resolved to aid them. On the yth of January, 1578, 
a treaty was signed in London by which she agreed to issue 
bonds in their favor for half a million dollars, and to furnish 
six thousand troops with a commander of high rank, who was 
to become a member of the Netherland council of state. 
The provinces were to pay these troops and provide several 
cities as security for the queen’s advances. They also agreed 
to give the same aid to England in case of a foreign attack, 
and furnish a fleet of forty ships should a naval war break 
out. The states further bound themselves to make no alliance 
without Elizabeth’s knowledge, and to obtain her consent be¬ 
fore undertaking any important movement. According to a 
previous arrangement .the Prince of Orange was to be lieu¬ 
tenant-general for the young Matthias. English envoys were 
soon after sent to Philip and Don John to smooth over this 
affair. 

The Archduke Matthias had a brilliant reception at Brus¬ 
sels, January 18, on the eve of his installation, having pre¬ 
viously agreed to govern the provinces under a constitution 
which left all important powers in the hands of the states- 
general, although he was also to swear allegiance to the king. 
A cavalcade of dignitaries headed by the Prince of Orange 
escorted the new governor to the gay city past a shining 
array of troops. Merry music welcomed his entrance through 
a triumphal arch, and a grand civic procession with flaming 
torches gave warmth to this noonday greeting. The wintry 
pavements were strewn with flowers, and bright scarfs and 


I57S- Don John Prepares for War. 225 

banners decorated the houses. Scenes from classic history 
and mythology, arranged by the guilds of rhetoric, were de¬ 
picted by gayly dressed young women in twenty-four theatres 
erected for the purpose in the great square. Bonfires, at 
which pigs and poultry were roasted, blazed in the streets 
amid feasting and dancing by the jovial people. The sudden 
flight of a fiery dragon through the air, and its explosion of 
blazing missiles, so frightened the honest burghers and their 
families, unused to such marvels of fireworks, that they fled 
for home as if pursued by an enemy. The next day Mat¬ 
thias and the Prince of Orange were sworn in, and on the 
next they attended a grand banquet given by the states- 
general at the City Hall, at which classical charades by the 
guilds of rhetoric amused and puzzled the guests. 

But this splendid pageant was soon followed by terrible 
reverses. The enraged hero of Lepanto resolved to crush 
the imperial archduke, this puppet of William the Silent. 
After writing to the Emperor Rudolph in complaint of his 
brother’s usurpation, and venting his rage on the English en¬ 
voy for Elizabeth’s treaty with the states, he issued a proc¬ 
lamation on the 25th of January, summoning the provinces 
to yield to the authority of the king and the Catholic re¬ 
ligion. He avowed himself a protector, not a tyrant, and 
offered pardon to all repentant citizens and soldiers. Though 
Don John’s trials had made him thin and careworn, his mar¬ 
tial spirit rallied at the prospect of battling with the enemy. 
His army, which like that of the patriots numbered about 
twenty thousand men, bore the banner of the cross with the 
emblazoned inscription in Latin, recalling the mission of the 
bold crusader: “ Under this sign I conquered the Turks; 
under this sign I will conquer the heretics.” Pope Gregory 
XIII. had issued a bull in favor of Don John, declaring 
the Netherlanders doomed like the Mussulmans to destruc¬ 
tion, and granting full pardon for all crimes to soldiers join¬ 
ing this crusade against them. 


15 


226 


History of the Netherlands. 


Unfortunately for the j^atriots, their soldiers were mostly 
hirelings who enlisted for plunder, while their officers were 
great nobles, jealous of the influence of Orange. The army 



OLD HOUSES, AMSTERDAM. 


of Don John, on the contrary, consisted of veterans led by 
some of the ablest generals of the age. At the battle of 
Gemblours, Jan. 31, 1578, the Spaniards swept everything 


0 n. 


































1578. 


The Battle of Gemblours. 


227 


before them. This great victory was assured by the master¬ 
stroke of an old schoolfellow and comrade in arms of the 
victor of Lepanto, who was destined to play a brilliant part 
in Netherland history. He had but lately joined the army. 

Prince Alexander of Parma, who risked so much on that 
day, was with the main body under Don John of Austria. 
Dashing ahead, he saw that the enemy, in falling back to¬ 
wards Gemblours for a favorable fighting position, were hotly 
pressed by a few skirmishers while traversing the borders of a 
deep ravine. To avoid being forced into the miry gulf, the 
patriots had allowed their ranks to become disordered. With 
the quick glance of genius, Parma perceived the opportunity 
of disabling the foe. At the head of a few companies of 
cavalry he dashed into the gorge, crying to his despatch- 
bearer as he started, “ Tell Don John of Austria that Alex¬ 
ander of Parma has plunged into the abyss, to perish there 
or to come forth again victorious.” 

After struggling through the mire the prince hurled his sol¬ 
diers furiously upon the flank of the astonished patriots, who 
were being hard pressed in the rear. Their cavalry broke and 
fled under these assaults, thus dividing the remainder of the 
force. Parma now charged the exposed centre of the states’ 
troops, sweeping them away like chaff. In the space of an 
hour and a half seven thousand patriots were killed or taken 
prisoners, while the Spaniards lost only ten or eleven men. 
Yet this victory, which was stained with great cruelty, was 
achieved by a small portion of the royalist force. 

Don John’s triumphs excited fierce indignation against the 
Catholic leaders who had proved false to the patriot cause in 
the hour of need. The defeat at Gemblours, which shattered 
the “Union of Brussels ” and wrecked the confederation of 
all the Netherlands, proved to have been partly due to the 
wilful absence of the chief commanders at a brilliant wed¬ 
ding in the gay capital. Had it not been for the efforts of 


2^28 History of the Netherlands. 

Orange, they would have been destroyed by the furious 
populace. 

An offset to these evils was the peaceful recovery of the 
great city of Amsterdam, and the patriotic feeling which the 
recent defeat roused throughout the country. Yet, though 
toleration was secured for the Protestants in the Dutch capi¬ 
tal by the welcome “Satisfaction” of Feb. 8, 1578, their 
religious services were not allowed within the walls. The 
coveted burial of the dead was, however, permitted in these 
limits on condition that the funerals should be unpretentious 
and restricted to twenty-four persons. Philip II. now made 
a number of efforts to secure peace, but his refusal of re¬ 
ligious toleration blocked the way. Both parties, therefore, 
prepared for war. Don John had been furnished by the king, 
in reply to his complaints of lack of means, with nearly two 
million dollars, and was promised an additional supply of 
two hundred thousand monthly. With these sums an army 
of thirty thousand infantry, sixteen thousand cavalry, and 
thirty pieces of artillery was to be raised and supported. 
The artful king advised the liberal use of money to gain over 
the governors of rebel cities and fortresses. While Don John 
forbade the people from obeying the states, they were trying 
to secure aid from Protestant Germany; but the Lutherans 
there had little sympathy with the struggling Calvinists in 
the provinces. 

As the Catholic magistrates of Amsterdam had, since their 
recent concessions to the patriots, shown signs of backsliding, 
one William Bardez, a warm partisan of Orange, resolved to 
turn them and the monks out of the city. Having-roused 
the citizens, the victims were easily secured. While on the 
way to the vessel which had been prepared for their recep¬ 
tion, the populace shouted, “To the gallows with them, to the 
gibbet, whither they have brought many a good fellow before 
his time ! ” The prisoners, who expected hanging or drowning, 


1578 - Spread of Protestantism, 229 

were released, after being taken some distance from the city 
and forbidden on pain of death to return. One of them, a 
former burgomaster of Amsterdam, had refused to receive 
some clean shirts which his wife had sent down to the vessel, 
exclaiming sadly to the servant, Take them away; take 
them away. I shall never need clean shirts again in this 
world.” The new magistrates in Amsterdam and Haarlem 
established Protestant worship in the churches and kept 
out the Catholic. Orange was opposed to this exclusion 
as unjust and illegal, and it was soon done away with. The 
Reformed religion was not only favored in Holland and 
Zealand, but it spread rapidly in other provinces. In 
Antwerp, where fifteen Protestant ministers had preached 
on a single Sunday, the burgomaster urged Orange to re¬ 
press the practice. Do you think,” replied the prince, 
“that I can do at this late day what the Duke of Alva 
could not at the height of his power?” William the Silent, 
however, had to use his authority with the magistrates of 
Middleburg, who belonged to the ruling Calvinist sect, to 
prevent them from persecuting the Anabaptists, a weaker 
body of Protestants. 

Don John of Austria, who had raised an army of nearly 
thirty thousand troops, sought in July to defeat the states’ 
force of eighteen thousand before it could be reinforced by 
Duke Casimir’s twelve thousand Germans. These troops had 
been sent by Queen Elizabeth instead of the English army 
which she had promised. The states were indignant at the 
change, for they had expected stalwart British soldiers, with 
the Earl of Leicester, her favorite, at their liead. But the 
queen feared war with the powerful Philip II., and, not sym¬ 
pathizing with the devotion of his rebellious provinces to 
religious liberty, wished them to submit to Don John. They 
had been obliged to discount twenty-five per cent in raising 
money on her promised bonds, as Don Bernardino de Men- 


230 History of the Netherlands. 



ENTRANCE TO THE HALL OF THE STATES, MIDDLEBURG. 


doza, the accomplished Spanish ambassador in England, had 
prevailed upon the London merchants who desired peace to 



















































































































































578. 


The Fainoiis Family of Ftigger. 


231 


warn the Fuggers/ the great German bankers, that Elizabeth’s 
agreement about the bonds could not be depended upon. 
This was in May, and in the following July the justice of 
these warnings became apparent. Mendoza induced the 
queen to refuse to issue these bonds to the states, and to 
oblige them to repay her advances. This attempt to prevent 
them from borrowing more money was a severe blow to the 
poor provinces, now forced to settle with their creditors at a 
heavy loss. 

1 This famous mercantile family dates back to the first half of the fourteenth 
century, its founder, John Fugger, being a weaver of Graben, near Augs¬ 
burg. From making and dealing in cloths, the Fuggers became great mer¬ 
chants and financiers, having an extensive foreign commerce, and lending money 
to the German princes. They thus acquired such influence that they were 
ennobled by the Emperor Maximilian I. The two leading members of the 
family in the time of Charles V. gave him important aid in his foreign wars. 
He rewarded them with the privilege of coining money, and made them counts 
and princes of the empire. While attending the famous Diet of Augsburg 
he was a guest at the splendid palace of Anthony Fugger. The great finan¬ 
cier is said to have astonished the emperor by having a pile of rich cinnamon 
wood in his fireplace. “ You will have a very costly fire,” remarked the great 
monarch. “ This will make it more costly, your Majesty,” said the magnificent 
banker, as he took the emperor’s bond for a large sum of money due hun and 
calmly kindled a blaze with it. The two brothers, Anthony and Raymond, 
were liberal patrons of literature and art, collecting the two largest libraries in 
Germany, and paying great sums to Titian for a few pictures. There was a 
proverb, “ As rich as a Fugger.” The privileges granted to the family by 
Charles V. were confirmed by the Emperor Ferdinand I. Notwithstanding 
their princely rank, the Fuggers long continued their mercantile career. 
They had great establishments in Antwerp and Cologne, and when Don John 
of Austria drew bills in Philip’s name on the Lombardy bankers for the ex¬ 
pense of removing the Spanish troops from the provinces, the Netherland house 
discounted them at almost as heavy a rate of interest as was afterward exacted 
by the German house from the states on Queen Elizabeth’s bonds. The dan¬ 
ger of royal repudiation was naturally met by compensating charges on the 
part of the great bankers. The place of the Fuggers in international finance 
is partially occupied by the Rothschilds. The descendants of the weaver of 
Graben, and of the two brothers, Anthony and Raymond, are now represented 
in Germany by the princely houses of Kirchberg and Babenhausen, which have 
kept up the family reputation for liberality and done good service to the 
state. See the “Nouvelle Biographie Generale,” tom. xix., Paris, 1857, for a 
detailed account of the Fuggers. 


232 History of the Netherlmids, 

Elizabeth’s violation of her solemn agreement — for the issue 
of the bonds had been officially authorized — gave a great 
shock to English credit abroad. Sir Francis Walsingham, 
the Queen’s Secretary of State, whom she had despatched 
with Lord Cobham on a peace mission to the states, thus 
wrote to Lord Treasurer Burleigh about the talk on the 
Antwerp Exchange : ‘‘ It is said openly that if bonds which 
have passed under the great seal are not observed, no assur¬ 
ance whatever can be placed on her Majesty’s promises. 
For her honor and the honor of the realm it had been better 
there had been given double value of them than this delay. 
We cannot excuse it. If she mean to desert the states here¬ 
after, which will be a very dishonorable and dangerous 
course, she ought to say so, and inhibit her agents from 
dealing with them hereafter.” But the queen ridiculed the 
protests of Burleigh and Leicester, who told her that she 
was sacrificing her honor, dooming Walsingham’s mission to 
failure, and driving the states into the arms of France. The 
bonds were afterwards issued to save Burleigh and Walsing¬ 
ham from arrest threateftied by the Cologne bankers, who held 
them responsible for the queen’s engagements, but mean¬ 
time the states had to give Elizabeth the crown jewels of the 
House of Burgundy for security, and agreed to immediately 
repay her original loan of two hundred thousand dollars. 

On the first day of August, 1578, a battle was fought at Ry- 
menant in which Don John’s army was repulsed, a thousand 
of his men being left dead on the field. His defeat was largely 
due to the valor of the English volunteers under Sir John 
Norris, who had three horses shot under him. The news of 
this success made Elizabeth resolve to send Leicester with 
twelve thousand troops to the aid of the provinces, but again 
she changed her mind from fear of trouble and expense. 

By an agreement signed at Mons on the 20th of August, 
the French Duke of Alengon was to aid the provinces against 


Treaty with Alen^on, 


233 


1578. 

the Spaniards with twelve thousand troops, one sixth being 
cavalry, for three months, and afterward with thirty-five hun¬ 
dred. The states were to give the same aid to him if 
necessary. His title was to be “ Defender of the Liberty 
of the Netherlands against the Tyranny of the Spaniards 
and their adherents.” He was, however, debarred from the 
internal government of the country. Only French troops 
were to be brought into the provinces, and the duke further 
agreed not to make war upon Queen Elizabeth. Should 
another prince be selected as sovereign by the states-general, 
his claims were to have the preference. By thus limiting Alen- 
Qon’s powers the prince thwarted the plans of the Catholic 
nobles who had intrigued with him. 

As this arrangement left the states a month for making 
terms with Don John, Walsingham and Cobham, the English 
envoys, and Count Schwartzburg, representing the Emperor 
of Germany, urged him to accept them, and thus ward off 
the duke. But their treaty with Alen^on, and the victory of 
Rymenant, had made the states so exacting that they offered 
to the high-spirited governor-general and his royal master 
only a nominal authority in the provinces. Broken in health, 
distressed by Philip’s neglect and the news of the assas¬ 
sination of his dear friend Escovedo, Don John did not 
rebuke these bold demands with his usual fire. He told 
the German envoy that he should not discuss such unjust 
proposals, that the king meant to refer the Netherland 
troubles to the emperor, and that he himself was anxiously 
expecting to be recalled. The wise Walsingham was greatly 
impressed by Don John’s bearing and conversation. “ If 
pride do not overthrow him,” wrote this keen observer to 
his colleague, Burleigh, “ he is likely to prove a great person- 
age.” Queen Elizabeth soon informed the states that she 
should no longer aid them. She had resolved to use Alen- 
Qon, who was also Duke of Anjou, as a means of manag- 


234 History of the Netherlaiids, 

ing the rebellious provinces, and, failing him, to resort to 
Spain. 

A gleam of hope for religious peace in the Netherlands 
was seen in the plea for toleration urged by the first synod 
or convention of the Calvinist churches at Dort in June. 
Their petition to the archduke and the council of state was 
seconded by Orange, who caused Matthias to sign a measure 
enforcing liberty of worship, but forbidding out-door preach¬ 
ing and all words or acts likely to excite disturbance. Yet, as 
this policy was supposed to be a cover for encroachments on 
the popular rights, William the Silent had great trouble in 
carrying it out. His brother John was opposed to Catholic 
worship in Holland and Zealand; Champagny and other 
nobles were opposed to Protestant worship in the Belgic prov¬ 
inces, and their petition against it being mistaken for a mur¬ 
derous plot, they were arrested and imprisoned in Brussels, 
August 18. The people wrongly thought that Champagny, the 
gallant defender of Antwerp during the Spanish Fury, was in 
league with his brother, the hated Cardinal Granvelle. 

Orange soon had personal experience of this religious jeal¬ 
ousy. He had informed the states-general of his desire to 
have his infant daughter, Catharina Belgica, whom he had 
named in their honor, baptized in the Protestant faith in 
Antwerp, where it was .permitted by the recent treaty. The 
representatives of the Walloon or Southern provinces, being 
ultra-Catholic, refused to give their consent to the baptism. 
As they were in a minority, the ceremony was performed, the 
states-general, the envoys of England and of Duke Casimir 
taking part in the celebration. William the Silent was pre¬ 
sented by the states-general with the county of Linghen for 
his daughter’s benefit. 

Meanwhile Don John of Austria and the Netherland com¬ 
mander, Count Bossu, were hampered by want of money to 
move their troops. The unfortunate governor complained 


1578- Death of Don fohn of Austria, 235 

bitterly to the king of the neglect which had imperilled his 
life and the royal cause, and begged for instructions how to 
act. Philip, who had a habit of scrawling comments called 
apostilles on the margin of letters, underlined his brother’s ap¬ 
peal and added, “ The marked request I will not grant. I 
will not tell.” While both armies were thus inactive, the con¬ 
queror of Lepanto, the son of the Emperor Charles V., was 
dying of fever and disappointment in a wretched hovel. Una¬ 
ble to obtain supplies to carry on the war, and hemmed in 
by the advance of the enemy, the despairing general sank 
under his physical and mental burdens. In his delirium he 
fancied he was leading his soldiers on to victory, and he only 
regained his reason in time to perform his last earthly duties. 

Just before his death, which took place Oct. i, 1578, Don 
John appointed his nephew, Alexander of Parma, who had 
faithfully attended him in his illness, his successor in com¬ 
mand in the Netherlands. There were suspicions that the 
unhappy governor had been poisoned, but they were not well 
founded. Though honored with a splendid funeral in the 
provinces, his remains were not to rest there. The dying 
crusader had requested the king to have them buried in the 
palace of the Escurial by the side of his imperial father. 
‘‘To avoid,” says the Jesuit historian, Strada, “those vast 
expenses and ceremonious contentions of magistrates and 
priests at city gates that usually impede the progress of princes 
whether alive or dead,” the orders of the prudent Philip 
resulted in a curious disposition of his brother’s body. It 
was divided into three parts, J)acked in bags, and hung at the 
saddle-bows of troopers, who secretly transported it through 
France. On their arrival in Spain, according to the fanciful 
Strada, the bones of the gallant warrior were carefully put 
together with wires, and the body stuffed and arrayed in 
princely dress and armor. Supported by a military staff, the 
dead soldier was formally presented to the king, who then 


236 


History of the Netherlands. 


generously permitted him to retire to the tomb. But though 
buried by the side of’the Emperor Charles V., Don John 
had really found his grave in the provinces, where his heart 
had been interred. 

The romantic hero fell in a conflict in which his talents 
and accomplishments were of little service. His noble traits 
were obscured amid trials which forced him to the strife 
of politics with the consummate statesman whose lofty aims 
he was unable to appreciate. The impetuous soldier, un¬ 
used to statecraft, was driven by his subtle antagonist to acts 
which discredited him with the people whom he honestly 
wished to conciliate. Having had bitter experience of the 
king’s perfidy. Orange labored to excite popular distrust of 
his representative. Every evidence of Don John’s pacific 
purposes increased the prince’s desire to compel him to hos¬ 
tilities that should make reconciliation impossible. To ad¬ 
vance his country’s cause, and especially to prevent the 
Catholic provinces from a submission to Philip which would 
leave Protestant Holland and Zealand at his mercy, William 
the Silent employed dil the arts of persuasion and intrigue of 
which he. was master. Don John’s arrival in the provinces 
was at an unfortunate time for the success of his rule. The 
royal cause had just been weakened by the great mutiny and 
the outrages which had united the provinces against Philip, 
whose desire for peace made him withhold the necessary 
means for crushing the rebellion. Thus the fiery warrior 
wore himself away in a hopeless struggle with adverse cir¬ 
cumstances. 

History affords no more pathetic example of the caprice 
of fortune than the career of the low-born son of the mighty 
emperor Charles V., who at twenty-four had been pronounced 
by Alva the greatest general since Julius Caesar. The laurels 
of Lepanto were still fresh upon his brow when Philip in¬ 
trusted to him the great work of pacifying th*e Netherlands; 


578 . 


Character of Don yohii. 


23; 


and the pope, confiding to him the interests of the church, 
tempted his chivalrous ambition with the hope of freeing the 
captive Queen of Scots and sharing with her the throne of 
the heretical Elizabeth. The Venetian ambassador, Lippo- 
mano, who saw Don John at the height of his fame, said that 
he once declared publicly that if he believed there was another 
man in the world more desirous of reputation and glory he 
would throw himself from the window in despair. Idolized 
by his soldiers, beloved by his friends for his generous traits, 
and admired for his personal fascinations and warlike prowess, 
the infatuated crusader, unfitted for difficult administrative 
duties, was doomed to reap in the Netherlands the baleful 
results of their previous bad government. Yet aniid all his 
trials he scorned to turn, as the king’s other governors had 
done, the hand of the assassin against the Silent Prince whom 
he knew to be the great obstacle to his success. “ Such 
means of delivering himself from an enemy,” says Gachard, 
“were abhorrent to the noble soul of Don John of Austria.” 
Dying at thirty-one, this knight errant of a waning cause, 
faithful, according to his light, to his sovereign and his church, 
had gained a celebrity which, enhanced by the remembrance 
of his virtues and his sufferings, of his dazzling triumphs and 
melancholy end, will never cease to interest the world. 


CHAPTER XV. 


PRINCE ALEXANDER OF PARMA. 

Philip confirmed Don John’s choice of his successor, 
and thus a man of surpassing ability was intrusted with the 
task of subduing the provinces. The son of Ottavio Far- 
nese, the gallant general of Charles V., and Margaret of Parma, 
first regent of the Netherlands, and great-grandson of Pope 
Paul III., who predicted his warlike fame in his cradle, he 
early showed military tastes and talents. Indeed, Alexan¬ 
der Farnese had such a fiery spirit, that when a young man 
he used to roam nightly in disguise about the streets of his 
Italian capital seeking some bravo worthy of his steel. 
While fiercely contending with one of these chance com¬ 
batants, a light from a passing torch revealed the faces of 
the two swordsmen. The prince’s antagonist proved to be 
Count Torelli, a noted duellist, who, on recognizing his future 
sovereign, implored pardon for venturing to cross swords with 
him. The affair becoming noised about, put an end to 
Alexander’s midnight combats. On his first visit to the 
Netherlands during the regency of his mother, he was so 
haughty towards the Flemish nobles that they thought him a 
conceited fool. They were to find out their mistake .before 
many years. The young Farnese had fought bravely under 
his beloved uncle, Don John of Austria, at the battle of 
Lepanto, boarding the mighty treasure-ship of the Turkish 
admiral, and hewing his way alone through the ranks of the 
infidels with his immense two-handed sword. He looked 



ALEXANDER FARNESE, DUKE OF PARMA. 


239 

















1578. 


Alexander of Parma. 


241 


the subtle and daring sol¬ 
dier that he was. He had 
a round, firm head covered 
with short, bristling black 
hair, a high, narrow fore¬ 
head, a hooked nose, dark, 
keen, dangerous-looking 
eyes, and a full, bushy beard. 
Of middle height, his grace¬ 
ful, well-proportioned figure 
was set off by rich and 
costly dress. The high lace 
niff, gold-inlaid armor, and 
collar of the Golden Fleece 
bespoke his lofty rank. He 
had a rare power of con¬ 
trolling men, and combined 
the cool yet daring courage 
of a great general with the 
tireless craft of the skilful 
politician. Temperate in 
his habits and devoted to 
labor, he infused his own 
ardent spirit into his sol¬ 
diers, who knew that he 
was as generous in his re¬ 
wards as he was severe in 
his punishments. In relig¬ 
ion he was a strict Catholic, 
and he sincerely hated her¬ 
etics. He was now in his 
thirty-third year. 

Their religious dissen¬ 
sions soon enabled the 



MATCHLOCK. 













242 History of the Netherlands. 

Prince of Parma to divide the people, who had been lately 
united against the Spaniards. Overrun by greedy and unpaid 
foreign soldiers, the disaffected provinces were an easy prey 
to the crafty commander. Ghent again became the scene of 
stormy tumults. The great city had lost its busy industries 
under the Spanish rule, and cattle now grazed in its grass- 
grown streets. Disgusted by the success of his rival, the 
weak but ambitious Casimir, who had incited outrages in 
Ghent while his troops ravaged the surrounding country, 
Anjou broke up his army and retired towards France. Many 
of his soldiers joined the Walloon insurgents in the southern 
provinces. These were led by Baron Montigny, and called 
themselves Malcontents, to show their dissatisfaction with 
both the Spaniards and the states. Their Protestant oppo¬ 
nents ridiculed them as Paternoster Jacks, because they wore 
round their necks strings of beads called rosaries, for count¬ 
ing Paternosters and other Catholic prayers. The masses in 
Ghent, hating these Malcontents as traitorous Catholics and 
tools of Parma, were easily incited to outrages by the des¬ 
perate Ryhove. That daring agitator resolved to lessen the 
number of his enemies by destroying old Blood-Councillor 
Hessels, who had threatened him with hanging at the time 
of his arrest. Going with an armed band to the prison on 
the 4th of October, 1578, he had Hessels and his associate, 
Visch, placed in a carriage and driven a short distance out 
of the city to an oak grove. When the coach stopped, Ry¬ 
hove taunted Hessels with having vowed by his gray beard 
to have him hung. His beard was then cut off, one half 
being placed by Ryhove in his cap as a trophy, and the other 
given to one of his companions as a decoration.^ Hessels 

^ The Dutch historians, whose accounts of this affair have been generally- 
followed, state that Ryhove tore out a part of Hessels’s gray beard. But th= 
reckless young noble did not indulge in this vulgar brutality. The Lord of 
Zweveghem, one of his victims, who was in Ghent at the time, says that Hes- 


1578. Persecution of Catholics in Ghent. 243 

and Visch, who had protested their innocence of treasonable 
designs, were then hanged to a tree. Ryhove wore the tuft 
of gray beard as a plume for several weeks. Seven years 
after the execution, when the Flemish provinces had resumed 
their allegiance to Philip, the body of Hessels was dug up 
from its burial-place under the tree and escorted by a pro¬ 
cession of great dignitaries to the church of St. Michael, where 
it was solemnly interred. 

Though the old Blood-Councillor deserved a violent death, 
his execution without trial or sentence was a stain on the 
patriot cause. Ryhove and Imbize, and their riotous follow¬ 
ers in Ghent belonging to the Calvinist sect of Protestants, 
did much to prevent the union of the Netherlands. Orange, 
at Antwerp, labored for conciliation in the turbulent city, and 
his appeals were seconded by the magistrates of Brussels and 
Davison, the English envoy. The prince’s terms were for¬ 
mally accepted November 3. Ten days afterward a renegade 
monk, named Dathenus, furthering the efforts of Ryhove and 
Imbize, excited the populace of Ghent to gi*eat fury against 
the Catholics. Convents and churches were pillaged, pic¬ 
tures and statues destroyed, and the valuables of the clergy 
seized by the mob. The Catholics were then driven out of 
the city and forbidden to return. The worst feature of these 
fanatical outrages was the cruel treatment of the monks, six 
being publicly burned in Ghent, and two a month later in 
Bruges. The Archduke Matthias, the Council of State, and 
William of Orange vainly attempted through their deputies to 
moderate this frenzy of excitement. The prince had, sev¬ 
eral months before, prevailed upon the magistrates of Ghent 
to prohibit image-breaking under penalty of death. His 

sels’s beard was cut off, and the “ Memoires Anonymes” confirm the story. 
This contemporary evidence has been published since Motley’s “ Rise of the 
Dutch Republic.” “ Memoires sur les Troubles de Gand,” p. 94. M6moires 
Anonymes sur les Troubles des Pays-Bas,” tom. iii. p. 134. 


H4 


History of the Netherlands. 

toleration of Catholicism roused complaints in Holland and 
Zealand, where the people distrusted his relations with Anjou, 
and feared that he would sacrifice their own interests to those 
of the general government. In his indignation at the out¬ 
rages in Ghent, William the Silent seriously thought of leaving 
the country to its fate. Yet, yielding to the appeals of the 
people, he again went to the stormy city and arranged a 
religious peace. This was published Dec. 27, 1578, but the 
Walloons and Malcontents still refused to lay down their 
arms. Between the Protestant and Catholic fanatics, who 
insisted on utterly destroying each other. Orange stood alone 
in his grand ideas of toleration. He would doubtless have 
discouraged the seizure of the suspected Catholics by Ry- 
hove and Imbize, had he anticipated its frightful consequences. 
The intrigues of his enemies were less harmful to the patriot 
cause than the excesses of his friends.^ 

Having been rebuked by Queen Elizabeth for his miscon¬ 
duct and the outrages of his troops, Duke Casimir soon 
went to England. Though Orange had calmed his troubles, 
and made the authorities of Ghent give the bond for forty- 
five thousand pounds, for which the thrifty queen had clam- 

* M. Kervyn de Volkaersbeke, the learned editor of “ Memoires sur les 
Troubles de Gand,” in a review of the authorities, maintains that the double- 
faced and tortuous policy of William the Silent was the cause of the outrages 
which proved fatal to the union of all the Netherlands. But while charging 
the prince with being the accomplice of Ryhove and Imbize, and perhaps the 
instigator of the tumults which desolated the Flemish capital, he elsewhere ad¬ 
mits that Orange did not foresee these terrible calamities when, “ listening only 
to his hate and resentment,” he abetted the arrest of the Duke of Aerschot. 
This admission of the distinguished Belgian scholar helps to explain, the mo¬ 
tives of Orange. He knew that the national cause was imperilled by the un¬ 
scrupulous Aerschot, and his hatred for that grasping grandee was patriotic 
rather than personal. He therefore secretly encouraged the seizures made by 
Ryhove and Imbize, while leaving himself free to disavow them if the conse¬ 
quences should be disastrous to the interests of the country. The Silent Prince 
fought his crafty opponents with their own weapons. See Gachard, Correspond- 
ance de Guillaume le Taciturne,” tom. iv., preface, p. Ixxvii. 


1578- DiLke Caszmir’s Hungry Hirelings. 245 

ored, the duke abused both the prince and the states-general. 
While being petted by Elizabeth, who conferred upon him 
the order of the Garter, he heard that his unpaid troops had 
at last left the provinces. In their distress, these German 
marauders had asked the Prince of Parma for their pay. 
The great warrior laughed at this cool request from his ene¬ 
mies, and while offering to give them passports to leave the 
country, declared he would kill them all if they remained. 
The hungry hirelings at once profited by his warning. On 
their way out of the provinces they sang a rough ballad about 
their wrongs. When Casimir returned to the Netherlands 
soon afterward, with a noble escort from Elizabeth, he amused 
his friends by singing a few verses of this ballad, one of 
which has been thus translated : — 

“ Oh, have you been in Brabant, fighting for the states ? 

Oh, have you brought back anything except your broken pates ? 

Oh, I have been in Brabant, myself and all my mates. 

We’ll go no more to Brabant, unless our brains were addle. 

We ’re coming home on foot, we went there in the saddle ; 

For there’s neither gold nor glory got in fighting for the states.” 

It was unfortunate for the patriots that they had to depend 
upon foreign soldiers, who cared little on which side they 
fought so long as they obtained good wages. 

The departure of Casimir and Anjou left the country 
without foreign aid. Parma’s cunning arts now hastened 
the disunion of the Netherlands.^ By the treachery of La 

^ “ The personal courage and profound military science of Parma were in¬ 
valuable to the royal cause, but his subtle, unscrupulous, and subterranean 
combinations of policy were even more fruitful at this period. No man ever 
understood the art of bribery more thoroughly or practised it more skilfully. 
He bought a politician, or a general, or a grandee, or a regiment of infantry, 
usually at the cheapest price at which those articles could be purchased, and 
always with the utmost delicacy with which such traffic could be conducted. 

. . . Men high in station, illustrious by ancestry, brilliant in valor, huck¬ 
stered themselves, and swindled a confiding country, for as ignoble motives as 


246 History of the Netherlands, 

Motte, Montigny, the Viscount of Ghent, and other great 
nobles, the Celtic or Walloon provinces of Artois, Lille, 
Douay, and Orchies, were permanently detached from the 
patriot cause. A crafty monk, named John Sarrasin, Prior 
of St. Vaast, in the province of Artois, was the master spirit 
in this intrigue. His bribes and appeals to selfish fears and 
religious jealousies seduced high and low. The last desper¬ 
ate effort for freedom in the Walloon provinces was headed 
by a rich and eloquent Catholic advocate in the city of Arras 
named Gosson. He was executed at midnight on the 25 th 
of October, 1578. The skilful prior was rewarded by Philip 
with the Abbey of St. Vaast, the richest in the Netherlands, 
and was afterward made Archbishop of Cambray. 

Amid these perils William the Silent labored to erect a 
bulwark against the flood of disunion. Acting through his 
trusty brother John he brought together, by the famous LTnion 
of Utrecht, which was published Jan. 29, 1579, Holland, 
Zealand, Gelderland, Zutphen, Utrecht, and the Frisian prov¬ 
inces for temporary defence against the foe. This treaty, by 
which civil and religious freedom was guaranteed in those 
states, is memorable as the foundation of the Netherland in¬ 
dependence. Yet this was not the object of the union, and 
nothing was said in the act about throwing off the yoke of 
Spain. Orange delayed signing it till May 3, in hopes of 
forming a new and larger confederation. Had his advice 
been heeded, and patriotism checked religious and political 
strife, all the seventeen provinces might have been united, 
and the country spared years of bloody civil war. 

But neither the prince nor the states-general could-bring 
back the Walloon country to the national cause. Parma’s 
subtle craft and splendid hospitality had completed the work 

ever led counterfeiters or bravos to the gallows, but they were dealt with in 
public as if actuated only by the loftiest principles.” — Motley’s “ History of 
fhe Rise of the Dutch Republig,” vol. iii. p. 392. New York, 18S9, 


1579-- Disiinio 7 i m the Netherlands. 247 

of alienation. A treaty was signed on the 17th of May, 1579, 
providing that the governor-general of the submissive prov¬ 
inces should always be taken from the king’s own family, that 
the foreign troops should be withdrawn, the Pacification of 
Ghent confirmed, and the administration of affairs intrusted 
to a Council of State composed of natives of the country. 
The Walloons being Catholics, there was no trouble about 
the religious question. Philip formally ratified the treaty on 
the 4th of September, and thus showed his willingness to 
make great concessions for the sake of peace. In his anxiety 
to prevent the permanent disruption of the Netherlands, the 
Prince of Orange appealed to the Walloons to avert the evil. 
But his patriotic efforts were spurned. Although he offered 
all his children as hostages for his fidelity, the distrustful peo¬ 
ple jeered at him as the Prince of Darkness. They openly 
charged him with prolonging the war from selfish ambition. 
Yet he protected the Catholics of Antwerp and Utrecht from 
the fury of mobs enraged by the disunion successes of their 
southern brethren. These outbreaks occurred at the festival 
of the Ommegang, or Assumption, May 28, which had occa¬ 
sioned the image-breaking tumults fourteen years previous. 

One reason why the Pacification of Ghent failed perma¬ 
nently to unite the Netherlands against Spain was, that while 
some of the provinces had become more Protestant, most 
of them had become more Catholic. Persecution had de¬ 
stroyed or driven away heretics; the edicts and the Inquisi¬ 
tion, which threatened the Northern unbelievers, had no 
terrors for Romanists in the South. Philip’s attacks on civil 
liberty in the Netherlands were designed to bring the people 
under the yoke of the Romish church, and that yoke would 
not be heavy on its adherents. Protestant fanaticism had 
also helped to weaken Catholic resistance to Spanish rule. 
The image-breaking sacrilege had not been forgotten, and 
recent outrages made even liberal Catholics regard the cry 


248 History of the Netherlands. 

for freedom of worship as only a cover for an heretical 
despotism. Matthias and Anjou had been brought in by 
intriguing Catholic nobles, and Casimir was a Protestant 
makeshift. Papists, suspicious of the skill of Orange in in¬ 
trigue, regarded his change from Catholicism to Calvinism 
as a selfish bid for sovereignty. Thus the Pacification of 
Ghent, which was designed as a barrier against Spanish 
tyranny, had to be replaced by the Treaty of Utrecht three 
years later, which bound together only those whom the king’s 
policy especially endangered. The Ghent compromise, which 
acknowledged the ascendency of Catholicism in fifteen prov¬ 
inces, with private toleration for Protestants, was followed by 
the Union of Brussels, giving general supremacy to the Cath¬ 
olic faith in order to unite its adherents against Don John. 
This was replaced by the Perpetual Edict, which he had in¬ 
duced the states to sign, and which, though nominally sus¬ 
taining the Pacification of Ghent, threatened the safety of 
the Protestants of Holland and Zealand. Then came the 
new Union of Brussels, the last confederation of all the 
Netherlands, which Orange had formed against the Span¬ 
iards on the basis of religious toleration. When this was 
overthrown by Don John’s victory at Gemblours and Parma’s 
efforts for the recovery of the ten provinces occupying what 
is now Belgium, the Union of Utrecht was established to 
preserve civil and religious liberty in the remaining prov¬ 
inces. Both sides justified their acts by the Pacification of 
Ghent, but with the bitter hostility of the rival religionists no 
treaty could have held them together.^ 

1 A monument to the Pacification of Ghent was unveiled in the City Hall 
during the great celebration of Sept. 3, 1876, and an address was delivered by 
Paul Frederick, Professor of History in the Royal University. He confessed 
that one reason why the memorable treaty failed to effect its object of securing 
the freedom of all the Netherlands was “because at Ghent itself the Protest¬ 
ants, under Imbize, Ryhove, and Dathenus, violently persecuted their Catholic 
fellow-citizens, pillaged the churches and the convents, and were blind enough to 


1579- 


Young Egniont's Treachery. 


249 


On the 4th of June Brussels was startled by the attempt of 
Philip, Count of Egmont, who commanded one of the state 
regiments, to seize the capital in order to gain the royal favor. 
But he was hemmed in with his traitorous regiment in the 
very square where his father had been beheaded eleven years 
before. Harder to bear than the complaints of his hungry 
soldiers were the bitter taunts of the people. The wretched 
youth burst into tears at their jeers at his shameful visit to 
this ill-omened spot. When released with his troops the 
next day, he denied the charge of treason, though he was 
even then plotting desertion to the enemy. Parma having 
informed the king of this scheme, Philip wrote encouragingly 
to Egmont, who replied by asking for money and office. He 
even demanded the command of his father’s old band of 
ordnance ” from the man who had sent that father to the 
scaffold. 

About two months before young Egmont’s capture, Parma 
had laid siege to Maestricht, which commanded the entrance 
to Germany. Besides its garrison of a thousand men, the 
city had a burgher guard of about twelve hundred; and its 
population, exclusive of some two thousand peasants, was 
thirty thousand. This was scarcely larger than the army of 
veterans brought against it. One Sebastian Tappin, of Lor- 

follow the example of the Inquisition by burning in the Friday Market, where 
the statue of Artevelde now stands, four Minor Friars and two Augustine 
Fathers, and a month afterwards two other Minor Friars at Bruges. The 
result was to divide the Netherlands, which, disunited, fell a prey to the foreign 
domination they had almost escaped.” “ Annual Register,” vol. cxviii. p. 221. 
These outrages have been referred to in the text, ante, p. 243. The contemporary 
F-lemish historian Van Meteren, a zealous Protestant, says the martyred monks 
had been convicted of crimes against nature. But in the tempest of excitement 
against the Catholics any pretext would be seized upon to palliate barbarous 
persecution ; and, as Van der Vynckt suggests, such criminal charges and trials, 
accompanied by tortures and followed by executions, must have been gross per¬ 
versions of justice. It is singular that Motley, while acknowledging in his 
“ History of the Rise of the Dutch Republic ” the lesser offences of fanatical 
Protestants, omits to mention these human sacrifices. 


250 


History of the Netherlands. 


raine, the second officer, had charge of the defences. He 
skilfully strengthened the works against the scientific opera¬ 
tions of Parma, who had surrounded the city, and spanned 
the river above and below with two fortified bridges. After 
a heavy cannonade for several days against the walls, four 
thousand coal-miners, furnished by the Bishop of Liege, began 
extensive mining approaches. These were met by under¬ 
ground caverns dug by the besieged, even the women form¬ 
ing companies of delvers in the earth, and choosing officers 
who were called “mine-mistresses.” By means of a secret 
dam the invaders were deluged with boiling water which 
scalded hundreds to death. Others were suffocated by 
smoke from burning brush blown upon them with organ-bel¬ 
lows brought from the city churches. Attacks upon two of 
the fortified gates were desperately resisted by soldiers and 
citizens. The peasants used flails to beat back the assailants, 
and the women threw pails of hot water and blazing pitch- 
hoops upon them. By an explosion of one of their mines 
which had been fired by the besieged, the invaders lost five 
hundred lives. A ^anish engineer, blown up from the 
gloomy depths, fell back and was buried beneath a heavy 
shower of earth. Forty-five years afterward his skeleton was 
found in a perfect state of preservation. The terrible war 
was St L going on, in which the soldier, in his suit of armor, 
with his gold chain about his neck as in life, had perished 
nearly half a century before. 

At last Parma ordered a general assault on the fortifica¬ 
tions. Four thousand royalists fell in the first day’s charge, 
and his bravest officers begged him to prevent further slaugh¬ 
ter ; but he cried fiercely, “ Go back to the breach, and tell 
the soldiers that Alexander is coming to lead them into the 
city in triumph, or to perish with his comrades.” He could 
hardly be restrained from this rash step. But the defeat of 
his veterans by townsmen and peasants in close combat 


1579- . Desperate Defe^ice of Maestricht. 251 

forced him to resume the siege. With his sixteen forts con¬ 
nected by a strong wall, he could bid defiance to any attempt 
to succor Maestricht. Hohenlohe and Sir John Norris, being 
sent thither with seven thousand troops by Orange, drew 
back in despair from the powerful works. The prince’s 
efforts to obtain a few weeks’ truce were baffled by Parma. 
The chain was tightening round the doomed city. Soon the 
garrison, driven to their last defences by the cannonade and 
storming parties of the enemy, were reduced to four hun¬ 
dred soldiers, nearly all of whom were wounded. Only the 
cheering words of Tappin, and the desperate resolve of the 
burghers and their wives, saved the city from surrender. 
Meanwhile a new fort had been built inside the works, but 
it was shattered by the terrific fire of Parma’s great guns. 
These were placed on a bridge across the moat,- the first 
piles having been driven by his own hands amid a deadly 
storm of bullets. 

One last breastwork was now left to the besieged, who still 
sternly refused to yield to their cruel foes. The men lived 
upon the ramparts, their food being brought to them by the 
women and children. But exhausted nature at last gave 
way. One night a watchman in Parma’s camp found a 
crevice in the wall, which he enlarged so as to admit his 
body. Creeping into the town, he was amazed to find 
everybody asleep. He hastened back with the news, and 
Alexander at once ordered an assault in the darkness. The 
walls were scaled, and the startled burghers awakened by the 
savage shouts of their foes. They made a desperate resist¬ 
ance. Boiling water and red-hot sand were poured from 
the house-tops on the assailants. In their fury the hireling 
soldiers of Parma spared none of these brave defenders of 
their homes. Men, women, and children were hunted dovm 
and mercilessly butchered. The shrieks of the victims were 
heard three miles away. Mothers with their infants in their 


252 History of the Netherlands. 

arms threw themselves into the river to escape a more hor¬ 
rible fate. Four thousand persons were slaughtered the first 
day, and by the end of the third most of the citizens had 
perished. Such was the end of the four months’ siege of 
Maestricht, which had begun March 12, 1579. The city 
was soon deserted by its handful of inhabitants, and its plun¬ 
der enriched the conquerors. Among the killed was the 
governor, Swartsenberg, while the gallant Sebastian Tappin 
was carried, mortally wounded, to the enemy’s camp. Parma 
was raised from his sick-bed and borne through the ruined 
city with great pomp to the church of St. Servais, where sol¬ 
emn thanks were offered for this victory over the heretics, 
which was piously attributed to the Apostles Peter and Paul, 
on whose festival the final assault was made. 

William of Orange, who had vainly tried to induce the 
states to relieve Maestricht, was now reproached for its fate. 
He was even charged with plotting to sell his country to 
France, and prevent an honorable peace with Spain. Yet 
on assuring the assembly that he was ready to leave the land 
if he could thus serve it, their cries of confidence showed his 
power to abate distrust of his patriotism. Again he displayed 
his influence by restoring order in Ghent, where the dema¬ 
gogue Imbize had seized the government, and, with the ex¬ 
monk Dathenus, had incited outrages against the Catholics. 
But they were both glad to seek shelter with John Casimir in 
Germany, while Orange, after accepting the government 
of Flanders, which he had hitherto refused, returned to 
Antwerp. 

Meanwhile a congress of European diplomatists at Co¬ 
logne, whose mediation the new emperor of Germany, Ru¬ 
dolph II., had prevailed upon the king to accept, was trying 
to arrange terms of peace between Spain and the Nether¬ 
lands. .Efforts were again made to bribe the Silent Prince to 
desert the patriot cause. The congress broke up Nov. 13, 


1579- Trials of the Patriots. 253 

1579, after a seven months’ session, which proved fruitless 
from Philip’s refusal to permit religious freedom in the prov¬ 
inces. Though he was really weary of the war, he was una¬ 
ble to see the justice or expediency of this concession to 
popular rights. Such was the blinding effect of bigotry upon 
the narrow-minded king. Meantime the dry debates of the 
great dignitaries of church and state at Cologne had been 
moistened by liberal drinking, a single bishop being charged 
with eighty hogsheads of Rhenish wine and twenty great 
casks of beer. 

Among the severest trials of the patriots was the treachery 
of trusted supporters of their cause. Thus the cities of 
Mechlin and Groningen were surrendered to the enemy, and 
Orange had to mourn the faithlessness of his trusted 
friends. Lord de Bours and Count Renneberg. The cap¬ 
ture of Count de La None, called, from his prowess, the 
Iron-Armed, was another severe blow to the prince and the 
country. Eminent both as a writer and soldier, the distin¬ 
guished Frenchman was so highly valued that the states 
offered Count Egmont and another noble prisoner in ex¬ 
change for him. Parma’s reply was, that he would not give 
a lion for two sheep. Yet he caged this lion for five years in 
a damp dungeon infested by rats, toads, and other vermin. 
Such were his sufferings that he was only prevented by the 
entreaties of his wife from accepting the king’s cruel offer of 
release on condition of having his eyes put out. Another 
serious loss to the Prince of Orange was the departure of his 
brother John from the Netherlands. He had been stadtholder 
of turbulent Gelderland, and had suffered great hardships. 
His wife was dead, and he felt bound to go home to his large 
family in Nassau, straighten out his affairs, and get married 
again. As he left a gallant son in the provinces, the count, 
who had so nobly served the country, did not hesitate to 
disregard the prince’s appeal to remain at his post. 


254 History of the Netherlands. 

In spite of the complaints of the poor Archduke Matthias, 
who was in debt even to his domestics, the states sent a mis¬ 
sion to France to make terms with the Duke of Anjou. The 
sovereignty was offered to him on the 29th of September, 
1580, at Plessis-les-Tours, but he waited to see whether 
Queen Elizabeth’s fear of his becoming ruler of the Nether¬ 
lands would make her accept his offer of marriage. But she 
again disappointed him, after three years’ trifling with his 
suit, as she had previously trifled with his elder brother. 
Dread of a war with Spain and disgust with her lover’s ugli¬ 
ness outweighed her political jealousy. So Anjou, her 

frog,” as the queen called the homely, hoarse-voiced, 
croaking Frenchman, accepted the sovereignty of the 
Netherlands in the convention of Bordeaux on the 23d of 
January, 1581. The states of Holland and Zealand took no 
part in this arrangement, as they distrusted the duke and 
wanted Orange for their ruler. He, however, refused , their 
offer, on the ground that Anjou could serve them better. 
The conquest of Portugal now left Philip more time to attack 
the Netherlands. 

In despair of regaining the rebellious provinces while 
William the Silent lived, the king adopted Granvelle’s oft- 
repeated advice to set a price on his head. The wily cardi¬ 
nal wrote to Philip that the mere publication of the decree 
would frighten the prince to death. As Orange had been 
the mark of assassins for years, this suggestion showed that 
the writer thought his royal master could be easily imposed 
upon. When the plan was submitted to the Prince of Parma, 
some of his council opposed it as base and belittling the 
king’s honor and power, and likely to excite sympathy for the 
victim. No Belgians, whether Catholics or heretics, would, it 
was said, undertake the job, and foreigners approaching the 
prince would be closely watched. Other members of the 
council favored the scheme as the best means of making 


1580. Philip's Ban against Orange. 255 

the people aware of the character of the monster at whom 
it was aimed. If William should become more suspicious 
and difficult to approach, he would thus be caused greater 
labor and suffering; and the profit, honor, and glory of doing 
the deed by command* of a king who held the avenging 
sword of God would incite emulation. Philip soon ordered 
the publication of the ban, and the wary Parma, who ob¬ 
jected to it as impolitic, took pains to state in his circular 
to the authorities that it was made by express command of 
the king, repeated in two letters. 

This famous ban was dated March 15, 1580, and pub¬ 
lished in the Netherlands the last of August in Spanish, 
German, and Italian. It charged the prince with deception 
and ingratitude, denounced his services to his country as 
crimes, pronounced a sentence of banishment upon him, 
forbade him food, fire, and shelter, and ended by offering a 
reward of twenty-five thousand crowns in gold for his capture, 
dead or alive. The assassin was also promised pardon for 
all previous offences, and a title of nobility. This horrible 
ban was answered by Orange in a most impressive paper, 
which vindicated his own character and held up Philip and 
Granvelle to the contempt and execration of the world. 
Among other crimes. Orange charged the king with having 
murdered his first wife, Elizabeth of France, and his eldest 
son, Don Carlos, and with having instigated the cardinal to 
poison the Emperor Maximilian.^ He rejected the author¬ 
ity of the Spanish tyrant, and offered to the people for whom 
he had made so many sacrifices his liberty and life if they 


^ Though Philip was then believed to have destroyed his wife and son, it is 
now known that he did not commit these crimes. Gachard, however, in his ex¬ 
haustive examination of the subject, holds that he was responsible for the men¬ 
tal tortures inflicted on the wretched youth during his imprisonment, and thus 
really caused his death. “Don Carlos et Philippe II.” tom. ii. p. 624. 
Bruxelles, 1863. 


256 History of the Netherlands. 

could be of any benefit to the country. “ I am in the hands 
of God,” said the fearless and devout patriot; “ my worldly 
goods and my life have been long since dedicated to His ser¬ 
vice. He will dispose of them as seems best for His glory 
and my salvation.” This terrible arraignment, which was 
styled an ‘‘Apology,” being heartily approved by the national 
assembly at Delft, was sent to nearly all the sovereigns of 
Europe.^ The states-general also offered the prince a guard 
of a hundred and fifty horsemen for the protection of his 
person. Thus the ban strengthened instead of weakening 
the support given by the people to their liberator. 

The traitorous Count Renneberg, having besieged Steen- 
wyk, bombarded it with red-hot cannon-balls, an invention 
first used at the siege of Dantzic five years before. Though 
many houses were burned, the city held out bravely. A 
forged letter from Orange to the Duke of Anjou was then 
enclosed by Renneberg in a sarcastic one from himself, to ex¬ 
cite distrust of the prince’s fidelity. But the burghers were 
not disheartened. They had lately received more trust¬ 
worthy news. Several fire-balls had come flaming through 
the night air. These were found to have two holes, one con¬ 
taining a letter, and the other the burning stuff which marked 


^ Voltaire calls this “Apology” one of the noblest of historical monu¬ 
ments, lifting the proscribed rebel far above the mighty monarch who proscribed 
him; for, instead of proscribing in his turn, he abhors such vengeance, and 
trusts for his safety to his sword. In a similar spirit Montesquieu comments on 
the ban as degrading Philip by promising to enrich and ennoble an assassin on 
the word of a king and as a servant of God. “ Nobility promised for such a 
deed! Such a deed enjoined in the service of God! All this reverses the 
principles of honor, as well as those of religion and morality.” According to 
Van der Vynckt and Grotius, Orange’s manifesto was drawn up by Villiers, a Cal¬ 
vinist minister, formerly a lawyer. He was of noble family, and the chaplain 
and confidential friend of William the Silent. Motley, who cites a different 
authority for this view of the authorship, says, “ No man, however, at all con¬ 
versant with the writings and speeches of the prince, can doubt that the entire 
substance of the famous document was from his own hand.” 


15S1. Margaret of Parma's Return. 257 

their track. They brought the cheering information of the 
advance of six thousand states’ troops under the gallant 
English colonel, Sir John Norris, to the relief of the city. 
After a siege of nineteen weeks Steenwyk was saved, Feb. 
22, 1581. The result was largely due to the courage of Cap¬ 
tain Cornput, the commander, in -defying hungry mobs and 
cheering downcast citizens. In reply to an insulting inquiry 
by the enemy whether the besieged had eaten their horses, 
he had paraded sixty bony beasts, all that were still alive, 
upon the heights. He also invented a sort of telegraph to 
communicate with the states-general. Messages were written 
in cipher on rolls of fine linen, stretched upon large frames 
and illuminated by a powerful light from behind, which made 
the writing visible at a great distance. Count Renneberg died 
five months after his failure at Steenwyk, bitterly lamenting 
his treason. 

While the assembly of the states at Delft in January, 1581, 
were forming an executive council of thirty native Nether- 
landers, the meddlesome Philip was interfering with the ablest 
of his governor-generals. He had sent back the Duchess of 
Parma to the provinces the previous August in the vain hope 
of regaining their allegiance. This blundering attempt to 
divide his authority with his mother so irritated the high- 
spirited Alexander that the duchess gladly resigned her 
powers. At the king’s request she remained privately in the 
country two years longer. 

As the excited appeals of fanatical monks in Brussels 
during the summer threatened tumults in that city, public 
Catholic worship was suspended till more quiet times. The 
main reason given for this interference with religious freedom 
was the deception practised on ignorant people by false mira¬ 
cles and relics. The real cause was the growth of the perse¬ 
cuting spirit among the Protestants in power. Though they 
were less cruel than the Papists had been, their intolerance 

17 


258 History df the Netherlands. 

was deplored by Orange, who could only partially restrain it. 
Antwerp and various Dutch cities enforced the arbitrary 
measure, but it was opposed by the magistrates of Leyden as 
reviving the dangerous practices of their oppressors. The 
Catholics of Haarlem were rebuked by the state legislature 
for venturing to declare that the two religions could be peace¬ 
ably exercised not only in the same town but in the same 
building. 

At last the states of Holland and Zealand resolved to throw 
off the yoke of Spain and declare their independence. This 
serious step was taken on the 26th of July, 1581, in congress 
at the Hague. As the two little provinces still refused to 
accept the Duke of Anjou, William the Silent consented to 
become their sovereign. He gained no fresh power by this act, 
which was limited to the war; but the states soon after secretly 
made him ruler for life without letting him know of the change. 
Their declaration of independence was called the Act of 
Abjuration. While acknowledging the divine right of kings, 
they maintained that it was forfeited by tyranny, and calmly 
recalled the various, acts of Philip which justified the estates 
in deposing him and choosing his successor. They acted as 
representatives of the people, who afterward approved their 
course. Though the Inquisition and the edicts were pro¬ 
nounced in this important declaration to be “ the first and 
true cause of all their miseries,” nothing was said to offend 
the Catholics, political rather than religious abuses being 
dwelt upon. 

Thus the Netherlands were split into three parts. The 
five Walloon provinces had submitted to Spain, the northern 
provinces were under the rule of William the Silent, and the 
remaining provinces had accepted Anjou. Though Orange 
might have had the sovereignty which was conferred upon 
the French duke, he refused it from fear of being thought a 
selfish intriguer, and from belief that connection with France 



THE NATIONAL MUSEUM AT THE HAGUE, 



























































1581. 


Departure of Matthias. 


261 


would be more useful to his country and to Christianity. In 
this he proved to be mistaken; but as Germany and England 
held aloof from the struggling provinces, there seemed no 
other hope for them. Even French tyranny could not be so 
bad as Spanish. Anjou was chiefly objected to as a Catholic; 
yet, with safeguards against persecution, the prince, though 
a zealous Protestant, favored religious freedom for the ruler 
as well as for his subjects. 

As the French treaty deprived the Archduke Matthias of 
even his show of power, he left the provinces in October. 
The states voted a pension of twenty-five thousand dollars to 
the well-meaning but inexperienced prince, whose youthful 
ambition had been so skilfully controlled by Orange. 

The ambitious Anjou had marched gayly into the Nether¬ 
lands in July with five thousand noble cavaliers who had 
volunteered for a summer campaign, and twelve thousand 
infantry. jHe was in time to save Cambray from Parma’s 
clutches. The city was so short of provisions that, at a wed¬ 
ding feast during the siege, hashed horse-flesh, boiled jackass, 
roast ribs of horse, two roast cats, and a cat pie were the 
principal delicacies. As the duke’s cavalry soon wearied of 
service, he disbanded his troops, and the states not being 
ready to receive him as a ruler, he returned to England to 
renew his courtship of Queen Elizabeth.* Though most of 
his infantry joined the garrison of Tournay, they were unable 
to prevent that important city from falling into the hands of 
Parma. It surrendered November 30, after a two months’ 
siege, having been bravely defended by the Princess of Espi- 
noy, a niece of the ill-fated Count Horn. She was the wor¬ 
thy representative of her gallant husband, who had resisted 
the appeals of his mother and sisters, and his brother, the 
Viscount of Ghent, to desert the patriot cause. 

William the Silent had vainly appealed to the united prov¬ 
inces to save Tournay. Local jealousies prevented combined 


262 History of the Netherlands, 

action. When money,” said the prince, is demanded for 
the war, men answer as if they were talking with the dead 
emperor. But their refusal to pay more is really an abandon¬ 
ment of both country and religion.” These stirring words 
moved the states to arrange for the inauguration of Anjou. On 
the 2 2d of November, 1581, St. Aldegonde, one of the commis¬ 
sioners, wrote from England that the duke’s marriage with 
Elizabeth was now settled. The facts favored this view. That 
very day she had kissed his brown lips and put a ring on his 
finger in the presence of her favorite Leicester, Walsingham, 
her Secretary of State, and Mauvissiere, the French ambassa¬ 
dor, whom she told to write to his master that the duke would 
be her husband. Yet she was nearly twice his age. 

There was great joy in the Netherlands at this news, and 
the arrangements for Anjou’s welcome as sovereign were 
hastened. Elizabeth, however, changed her mind, and told 
Burleigh, her Lord Treasurer, soon afterward that she would 
not be the ugly fellow’s wife to be empress of the universe. 
Yet she still played with the ambitious duke, who offered to 
turn Protestant for her, sake. Fear of offending France again 
made her vow to marry Anjou, but she was deterred by 
the watchful and sagacious Burleigh, who told her that 
she would lose her crown if she took a Catholic prince, the 
son of the hated Catherine de Medici, to share its honors. 
So it was resolved to ship the duke to the Netherlands. 
Elizabeth used all sorts of artifices to get rid' of him. At last 
she was obliged to give him money to pay for German troops, 
and send the Earl of Leicester and Lord Howard with him 
to the provinces. She still fooled him with promises of. mar¬ 
riage, and while going with him as far as Canterbury, said he 
might address his letters to her as his wife the Queen of 
England. 

A noble and gallant company of her subjects, among whom 
were Leicester, Sir Philip Sidney, and Lords Willoughby, 


1582. Installation of Anjou. 263 

Sheffield, and Howard, sailed with Anjou to the Netherlands, 
fifteen large vessels being provided for them. On his arrival 
at Flushing on the loth of February, 1582, he was welcomed 
by the Prince of Orange and a large delegation of the states- 
general. The installation took place with great pomp a week 
later just outside the walls of Antwerp. According to time- 
honored usage, Anjou assumed the ducal hat and the velvet 
mantle lined with ermine worn by the dukes of Brabant. 
While assisting to fasten the button of the cloak, William the 
Silent said to him, “ I must secure this robe so firmly, my 
lord, that no man may ever tear it from your shoulders.” 

A splendid procession with gay standards and banners 
escorted the new duke to Antwerp. The merchants of the 
Hanse towns led the way in antique German dress. Then 
followed the English merchants in long velvet cloaks, the 
heralds in fancy garb, the militia with bands of music, and the 
chief officers of the city and province, wearing black mantles 
and gold chains. Next came the duke himself on a white 
Barbary steed ornamented with cloth of gold. Around him 
were illustrious native and foreign dignitaries, — among them 
the chivalrous Sir Philip Sidney and the Earl of Leicester, the 
Dauphin of Auvergne, the Prince of Espinoy, and William 
the Silent, with his handsome son of fifteen, — Count Maurice 
of Nassau, — who was to become a great general and patriot. 
The body-guard of Anjou were the cross-bow men and arch¬ 
ers of Brabant, whose splendid dress glittered among the uni¬ 
forms of the French cavaliers and the life-guardsmen of the 
Prince of Orange. At the end of the procession marched 
a band of three hundred fettered criminals who were to 
receive a pardon from the duke in honor of the joyous occa¬ 
sion. Although it was midday, great torches flamed along 
the road leading to the city. 

Antwerp welcomed the new sovereign with characteristic 
festivities. An immense gilded car, with figures of Religion, 


264 History of the Netherlands. 

Justice, Prudence, Fortitude, Patriotism, and Patience in gay 
attire, was stationed just inside the gate. The streets and 
houses were alive with eager spectators. In the centre 'of the 
market-place, which blazed with wax torches and tar-barrels, 
there was a figure of the giant Antigonous, the fabulouc 
founder of the city.^ He wore a sky-blue overcoat, and held 
a banner emblazoned with the arms of Spain. As the duke 
entered the market-place this figure turned its head and 
bowed to the new sovereign, and then, dropping the Spanish 
standard, lifted up another bearing the arms of Anjou. 

Little did the enthusiastic Netherlanders dream what a 
wretched creature they were welcoming. Both the Prince of 
Orange and St. Aldegonde were deceived in his character. 
Francis Valois, Duke of Alengon and Anjou, was now twenty- 
eight years of age, with a short, ill-shaped body, and a brown, 
blotched face pitted with small-pox. The principal feature 
of his countenance was twice the usual size, so that French¬ 
men, who knew his tricky ways, used to say that as he was 
double-faced he naturally had two noses. He had been a 
Huguenot commander, but when his self-interest as heir to 
the throne of France led him to join the Catholics, he allowed 
his soldiers to kill and plunder captive Protestants without 
stint. Yet he had such a bright and pleasant way of talking 
that strangers were apt to think him intelligent, kind-hearted, 
and sincere. This was the man upon whom the confiding 
provinces had conferred an hereditary sovereignty, reserving 


* According to tradition this giant had a castle on the Scheldt two centuries 
before the Trojan war, and levied a tribute of one half the cargoes of passing 
vessels. Refusal to pay doomed the victims to lose their right hands, which 
the cruel giant cut off and threw into the river. From this hand-throwing, 
hand-werpen, the name Antwerp was said to be derived, and two raised hands 
in the city escutcheon confirmed the story. The grasping giant Antigonous 
was at last overcome and flung into the river by a hero called Brabo, whose 
exploits were honored by the name Brabant being given to the surrounding 
country, 


1582. Nature of Aujotis Government. 265 

the right to select his successor from among his children, if 
he should leave more than one. The Duke of Anjou had 
sworn to support the liberties of the Netherlands, and to carry 
on the war with Spain with the aid of the states and of his 
brother, the King of France. He was really to rule over a 
republic composed of the revolted provinces of a nation with 
which the French were at peace. Such a state of things 
would be hardly possible nowadays. 

In response to the appeals of the Catholics, their public 
worship was restored in Antwerp, March 15, on condition of 
their abjuring the king and swearing allegiance to the duke. 
The Bishops of Ypres and Bruges, two of the victims of the 
memorable arrests of Ryhove and Imbize, were released from 
their long imprisonment on the same day. 


CHAPTER XVI. 


ATTEMPTS ON THE LIFE OF ORANGE.i 

There had been many attempts to assassinate Orange 
before the publication of Philip’s ban in June, 1580. An¬ 
tonio de Guaras, his commissioner in London, had employed 
numerous Scotch and English adventurers to destroy the 
prince. In 1573 a Captain Poole and a Captain Ralph 
Hasleby offered to kill or carry him off, and Hasleby made 
the attempt. A Captain Wingham, another of those un¬ 
scrupulous soldiers who were ready to sell themselves to 
the highest bidder, sought a place in Orange’s household 
for the same purpose. Then a Captain Ellice and a Colonel 
Balfour agreed to follow the prince to Delft or Rotterdam, 
intending to capture or kill him, and hoping also to secure 
one of these towns. 

In August, 1574, De Guaras wrote that ^Gf they kill the 
prince and also obtain a town for us, they expect twenty 
thousand crowns for the colonels, as much more for each 
of the captains, and a further sum for the men. If they 

1 Much valuable material for this chapter has been obtained from the volume 
of M. Gachard, the learned Archivist General of Belgium, on the proscription 
and assassination of William the Silent. — “ Correspondance de Guillaume le 
Taciturne,” tom. vi. This remarkable collection of original documents, with a 
preliminary narrative, published since Motley’s “ Rise of the Dutch Republic,” 
contains important information not found in standard histories of the Nether¬ 
lands. Mr. Fronde’s researches in the archives of Simancas have also been 
drawn upon for attempts on the life of William of Orange unknown to contem¬ 
porary annalists. — “ History of England,” vol. xi., pp. i6, 17, London, 1870. 


1575- Oj'anges Life was Sought. 267 

take the town, but miss the prince, they will be content 
with fifteen thousand crowns among them all. If they se¬ 
cure the prince without the town, they expect twenty 
thousand; — the colonels to have in addition a pension of 
a thousand crowns, and the captains one of three hundred. 
The agreement is to be drawn up in writing. Ellice says 
he has been long in the prince’s service, and hates him.” 
The discovery of this treachery by English officers in the 
Netherlands obliged Orange, who could not tell friend from 
foe, to send all the queen’s troops home. 

Philip II. was led to encourage these desperate attempts 
by the demands of Alva for more men and money after his 
unexpected failure to conquer Holland. The king’s league 
with the pope against the Turks had crippled his resources, 
and incited a desire to crush Orange and thus end the war 
with as little expense as possible. So, when Requesens was 
sent to the provinces, he was ordered to hire suitable men to 
kill the prince and his brother Louis. In a letter written by 
Gabriel de Cayas, the Spanish secretary of state, to the Grand 
Commander, Oct. 21, 1575, he was warned not to let the 
king’s connection with these plots be known, “ as that would 
be inconvenient.” The previous February a man who had 
brought the head of the murdered Admiral Coligny to the 
Netherlands came to Alva and offered to put Orange to 
death. The name of this man is unknown, but he is sup¬ 
posed to have been one Nicholas, an Albanian captain. As 
he was ignorant of the language of the country and lacked 
business experience, his attempt failed. 

Meanwhile the Grand Commander wrote despondingly to 
Cayas about the assassination scheme. “ If God does not aid 
me,” he piously said, “ I have no hope of getting the Prince 
of Orange killed.” He complained that the only applicants 
for the work were ‘‘tricksters and money-drawers, perhaps 
double spies.” An Englishman had been profuse in prom- 


268 History of ‘ the Netherlands. 

ises, but three months had passed without news from him. 
Requesens added that it was not easy for his agents to get 
near Orange, who was on his guard; and several who had 
made the attempt had been caught and executed. In fact, 
he thought himself in more danger than the prince, being 
surrounded by Walloons and Germans, who, he plaintively 
adds, are ‘‘no doubt real pagans.” Yet he expressed con¬ 
fidence that God would protect him, and declared that the 
condition of the country caused him much more anxiety 
than his personal peril. 

About the time of -the Albanian’s application James 
Hamilton, the high-bred assassin of the regent Murray of 
Scotland, volunteered to rid Philip II. of his most formi¬ 
dable enemy. After a warm reception at the Spanish Court 
he related his plans to the Duke of Alva at Amsterdam. 
He proposed to employ a countryman of his who had been 
a captain at Haarlem, and was well fitted for the dan¬ 
gerous work. This man’s attempt having failed, Hamilton 
secured the release of another Scotchman from the galleys in 
France, and set him on the prince’s track. He also obtained 
a letter of introduction to Requesens from a former secretary 
of Cardinal Granvelle. This is all that is known of Hamilton’s 
attempts against the life of Orange. 

Another Scotchman proposed to Don John of Borja, Philip’s 
envoy at Prague, to assassinate the prince on condition that 
the Spaniards should withdraw from the castles of Parma 
and Piacenza. Borja, acting in concert with the Duke 
of Terranova, the king’s ambassador at the Congress of 
Cologne, satisfied the Scotchman that these terms were 
inadmissible. The two envoys then made him an offer of 
twenty-five thousand crowns on completion of the deed. 
This he accepted, though professing to have no object but 
the service of God and the king. He proposed to use 
poison, and required six months to effect his purpose. The 


1579- Plot to Poison the Silent Prince. 269 

duke wrote to Philip that though the success of the scheme 
was doubtful, no one would be compromised by its failure, 
as his promise was only a verbal one. The king’s care 
to conceal his connection with these attempts shows that 
before the publication of the ban he wished to avoid the 
odium of a public avowal of them. Parma’s opposition 
to the ban arose from similar motives, for he did not hesi¬ 
tate secretly to encourage attempts at assassination. The 
ban was at last resorted to, because the failure of these 
efforts showed that many adventurers would not risk their 
lives in an undertaking which, if successful, would be dis¬ 
avowed by Philip, who would doubtless sacrifice them to 
clear himself. A public proclamation would also incite re¬ 
ligious fanatics to gain rich rewards in heaven if death should 
prevent their reaping earthly gain by the destruction of the 
great heretic. 

While the Scotchman was bargaining with the two envoys 
at Prague, a Savoyard gentleman living in France brought 
a letter of introduction from Balthazar Burgos, a Span¬ 
ish merchant in Calais, to Don Bernardino de Mendoza, 
Philip’s ambassador in London. He proposed, with the aid 
of three companions, to destroy Orange by poisoning. He 
said he had a poison so potent that a little of it rubbed on 
the lining of a man’s hat would dry up his brain and kill him 
in ten days, particularly if the moon were then crescent 
shaped. Mendoza, who belonged to one of the most illus¬ 
trious families in Spain, and was an eminent scholar as well 
as soldier, doubted whether the man could be trusted. He 
therefore told him that the king was too noble and power¬ 
ful as well as too Christian a ruler to resort to assassina¬ 
tion against rebels. The subtle Savoyard answered that he 
understood all that, but he hoped to finish the job within 
two months, and would trust to the ambassador’s bounty for 
his reward. The man talked so fluently in French, Italian, 


270 History of the Netherlands. 

and Latin, and was so familiar with affairs in France and the 
Netherlands, showing Mendoza letters from a secret agent of 
Orange and the states at the French Court, that the ambassa¬ 
dor began to have confidence in him. For security, how¬ 
ever, he put spies on his track. Finding that the man had 
told the truth about himself and his affairs, he gave him 
money for his scheme, and urged him to execute it as soon 
as possible. The ambassador also wrote a letter in his favor 
to the Prince of Parma. What became of the Savoyard and 
his plot is a mystery. In the archives of Simancas is a letter 
from Mendoza to Philip dated Feb. 26, 1579, containing all 
that is known on the subject. 

Hitherto only foreigners had engaged in plots to assassinate 
William of Orange. Sad to relate, a Belgian, who was also 
a dignitary of the church and an old friend of the prince, 
was now concerned in the infamous work. This was John 
Van der Linden, Abbot of St. Gertrude at Louvain, one of 
the signers of the Pacification of Ghent and envoy from the 
states-general to the Congress of Cologne. As he had been 
very intimate with Ihe prince, the Duke of Terranova was 
surprised to receive a proposal from him for destroying 
Orange unless he accepted the king’s terms. 

The duke wrote to Philip, June 26, 1579, that as the 
Scotchman had been delayed by lack of a favorable opportu¬ 
nity, he thought it best to take up with the abbot’s offer, as 
many colonels and captains in the states’ army were at his 
service. Van der Linden had said that the only way to get 
rid of the prince was to offer him a large bribe to leave the 
provinces, and in case of refusal to kill him. He actually 
wrote to Orange to induce him to accept the king’s terms of 
peace or abandon the country; but William gave him no 
encouragement. In writing to Philip the duke said he had 
given the abbot money to carry out his plans, but that 
although that worthy hoped to do so soon, he was not so 


1582. 


A Treachei'ous Abbot. 


271 


confident, as in such business there was a great difference 
between talking and acting. He added that Van der Lin¬ 
den had better facilities for performing the work than all the 
other applicants. 

Terranova soon had to support his tardy Scotch hireling 
as well as the abbot, who explained the failure of his men to 
destroy Orange by his moving about from place to place. 
The duke now offered Van der Linden twenty thousand 
crowns for the prince’s head, and an equal sum for the deliv¬ 
ery of one of the gates at Ghent so that the Spaniards could 
seize the city. Despite the abbot’s delay, Terranova still 
thought so well of his scheme that he promised to pay him 
ten thousand crowns in case of success, and twenty thousand 
crowns to the assassin or his heirs. Yet these plots all failed. 
One of the wretches hired by Van der Linden to poison 
the prince was a native of Marseilles, who had attempted to 
poison the illustrious Frenchman, Duplessis-Mornay. The 
treacherous abbot was false both to the Spaniard and his own 
countrymen. He was charged with having tried to poison Don 
John of Austria. Parma believed him to have attempted to 
seize the city of Bois-le-Duc, and make himself dictator j and 
his admission to the governor-general’s council had been 
opposed by the states of the obedient provinces on account 
of his villany. 

Though none of the attempts on the life of Orange pre¬ 
vious to Philip’s ban had even partially succeeded, one about 
two years later was to have serious results. On Sunday, the 
18th of March, 1582, the prince had arranged to attend a 
great evening festival in honor of Anjou’s birthday. He 
dined in state at the Antwerp citadel. Counts Hohenlohe and 
Laval and the two French commissioners, Bonnivet and Des 
Pruneaux, being of the company, which included, besides 
his immediate family, two sons of his brother John. There 
was much talk during the dinner of the cruelties of the 


2/2 History of the Netherlmtds. 

Spaniards in the provinces. While this was going on the hal¬ 
berdiers on guard turned away a pale, slender, common-looking 
youth with a thin, dark mustache, who was about to approach 
the table. He was coarsely dressed, a white doublet or waist¬ 
coat setting off his black clothes. When the repast was over 
Orange rose and walked towards his own apartments, followed 
by his guests. Stopping a moment before some tapestry rep¬ 
resenting Spanish soldiers, he called the attention of the 
Count of Laval to it. Just then the youth, who had been 
kept back by the halberdiers, advanced as if to present a 
petition to the prince. As Orange leaned forward to take it 
the intruder fired a pistol directly at his head. The ball en¬ 
tered his neck under the right ear, passed through the roof 
of the mouth, splintering a tooth, and came ^ out below the 
left jaw bone. The hall was full of people, and the assassin, 
thinking perhaps to escape in the confusion, dropped his 
pistol. But he had been recognized, and in an instant he 
was despatched by the swords of the high-spirited gentlemen 
present, and the halberds of the guards. So close was the 
pistol to the princ;e’s head that his hair and beard were 
burned. Though blinded and stunned by the discharge, he 
remained standing. On coming to his senses, he thought 
that a part of the house had fallen, but finding his hair on 
fire he realized his condition, and exclaimed, “ Do not kill 
him; I forgive him my death ! ” Then, turning to the 
French gentlemen present, he said, “ Ah, what a faithful 
servant does his Highness lose in me ! ” 

The prince, supported by his friends, managed to walk to 
his chamber, where he was put to bed. He then said to 
Peter van Aelst, the burgomaster, If it please God to call 
me to Him in this crisis, I will submit patiently to His will, 
commending to you my wife and children.” His surgeon, 
who had meanwhile arrived, now examined and bandaged 
the wound, and, fearing the bullet had been poisoned, pre- 































582. 


A Fanatical Assassin. 


275 


scribed the necessary antidotes. Soon Villiers, the prince’s 
chaplain, appeared, and, on seeing him. Orange, with tender 
conscientiousness, asked how he could render an acc(^unt to 
God for so much bloodshed. On the minister’s suggesting 
that the justice of the war would be his excuse, the devout 
patriot said, “ I rely on the mercy of God ; in that mercy 
alone rests my salvation.” 

There was the deepest grief in the prince’s household at 
the terrible calamity. His wife repeatedly swooned away, 
and the young princesses wept and moaned piteously. To 
the sorrowing friends and servants of Orange the future 
seemed full of gloom. The general alarm was increased 
by dreadful suspicions as to the origin of the crime. It 
was feared that the French were concerned in it, and that 
even the prince’s domestics might be implicated. 

Believing himself to be dying, William was full of sympathy 
for Anjou, who-would so soon be left alone amid great trials. 
By order of Count Hohenlohe the gates of the castle had 
been closed, and none but well-known persons allowed to 
leave. Count Maurice of Nassau, though only fifteen years 
of age, showed great presence of mind at this trying time. 
He remained by the body of his father’s assassin, and took 
charge of the articles secured by a search. These proved that 
the fellow was a religious fanatic, who had been duped into 
believing that heaven would reward him for ridding the world 
of the great heretic and rebel. The youth’s shirt was covered 
with crosses and other sacred symbols. His pockets con¬ 
tained an Agnus Dei, or Lamb of God (a waxen image stamped 
with the figure of a lamb and consecrated by the pope), a 
taper of green wax marked with the emblem of the Re¬ 
demption, such as Spanish pilgrims carried to their shrines, 
and two pieces of beaver skin, at first mistaken for dried 
toads, which the assassin had been told would render him 
invisible as soon as he had committed the deed. A Jesuit 


2/6 History of ike Netherlands. 

catechism and two bills of exchange, one for two thousand 
and one for eight hundred and seventy-seven crowns, were 
also fj^und upon him. Then there were some writing tab¬ 
lets covered with prayers for the success of his undertak¬ 
ing, various inducements to the inhabitants of Antwerp to 
spare his life, and offerings to Christ and the saints in case of 
his safe delivery. The gift promised to the Saviour was a 
new coat of costly pattern.” In the youth’s clothes was a 
naked dagger, which he had probably been prevented from 
using by his broken thumb, caused by the recoil of the over¬ 
loaded pistol. He had asked the gunsmith of whom he 
obtained the firearm to load it, on account of his own inex¬ 
perience. All the papers secured were in Spanish. 

There being now no doubt that only Spaniards had been 
concerned in the crime, the prince’s valued friend, St. Al- 
degonde, at once informed the magistrates of Antwerp of 
the fact, showing them the assassin’s tablets and some of his 
letters. His arrival was timely, for the excitement against 
the French had become intense. There were fears of a 
repetition of the ^t. Bartholomew massacre, in which 
Anjou’s family had been implicated. The citizens had 
run to arms, chains had been stretched across the streets, 
and a threatening mob had begun to move towards the 
Abbey of St. Michael, the duke’s residence. All this had 
turned out as the Spaniards had expected, and they now 
hoped for an attack on the French, and their massacre of 
the citizens in retaliation. As the day selected was the 
anniversary of Anjou’s birthday, and a grand illumination of 
Antwerp would draw crowds in the evening, everything 
favored their hopes but the survival of Orange and the 
care used to ascertain the assassin’s nationality. 

Anjou was overcome with grief on hearing of the crime. 
When he learned that the French were suspected, he sus¬ 
pended preparations for his feast, and, as a mark of confidence 


1582. yaureguy s Remains Identified. 277 

in the people, replaced the Swiss guard at his palace by 
citizen soldiery. He then authorized the magistrates to pro¬ 
ceed against the criminals. St. Aldegonde’s explanations 
calmed the popular fury against the French. As the 
chiefs of the city guard were still anxious about Orange, 
one of them forced his way to the prince’s chamber to see 
if he were dead or alive. The officer returned with the glad 
tidings of his safety, and his wish, if he should not survive, 
that the people should be faithful to Anjou, whom he warmly 
praised. After an affecting interview with the sufferer the 
duke sent despatches to his brother Henry HI. of France 
and Queen Elizabeth of England. 

The letters and bills of exchange found on the assassin 
bore the name of Caspar Anastro, a Spanish merchant of 
Antwerp. His house was therefore searched, but he had 
left town several days before on pretence of having urgent 
business in France. His book-keeper, Antonio Venero, was 
arrested on suspicion,. and also a Dominican friar named 
Timmerman who had secretly held mass in his house the 
morning of the murder. As the assassin’s name was still 
unknown, his body was exposed in the public square. It was 
soon recognized as that of John Jaureguy, a Spanish youth 
of nineteen who had lately been in Anastro’s employ. He 
was the son of a sword-cutler of Bilboa, in the province 01 
Biscay. Venero was -among those who identified the remains. 
After the corpse had been on exhibition an hour it was quar¬ 
tered, and the parts were fastened to the four principal gates 
of the city. The head was placed on a pole on the ramparts 
of the citadel. This barbarous display was intended to terrify 
would-be assassins of Orange. 

Venero still denied connection with the plot, but letters 
addressed to him by his master were soon seized in the 
foreign mail, and the guilt of both was thus clearly estab¬ 
lished. Having been promised an honorable death and the 


2/8 History of the Netherla 7 ids. 

attendance of a priest, the book-keeper made a full con¬ 
fession. Timmerman then described the interview between 
him and Venero on the preceding Friday. It appeared 
that the merchant, Anastro, being on the brink of bank¬ 
ruptcy, had been induced by one John Yssunca, a Spaniard, 
who was formerly a commissary of provisions in the prov¬ 
inces, to join him in a plot against the life of Orange. 
Yssunca said that he had a promise, in the king’s handwriting, 
to give eighty thousand dollars and the cross of St. James 
(Spain’s proudest order of chivalry) to any man who would 
compass the death of the prince. 

Anastro, like Yssunca, was afraid to risk his own life, but 
eager to get as much of the reward as possible; he there¬ 
fore suggested the job to his book-keeper, Venero, who 
declined it. The crafty merchant then made the same prop¬ 
osition to Jaureguy, who had been several months in his 
office as a copyist. With tears in his eyes, the artful Anastro 
appealed to this ignorant youth to.help him out of his diffi¬ 
culty. As the young man was of a gloomy, fanatical tem¬ 
perament, he was easily persuaded that the destruction of 
Orange would be a pious and patriotic act. The merchant 
first suggested using a dagger, but afterward advised a pistol 
as more certain; and, as Jaureguy said he had never prac¬ 
tised with firearms, his employer agreed to get a friend to 
go with him to a shooting gallery, cafe being take to con¬ 
ceal the fact of his being a Spaniard. 

Before Anastro left the country he promised the two 
youths, Venero and Jaureguy, who were about the same 
age, to adopt them as his sons and share his property with 
them if the scheme should succeed. Jaureguy replied that 
he wished nothing, as he acted out of gratitude to his beloved 
master. As Venero was overcome with fear, the merchant 
tried to reassure him by saying that not a hair of his head 
should be touched, and that if William of Orange were dead 


1582. Execution of Jauregiiy s Accomplices. 279 

the Antwerpers would gladly submit to Parma; — he should 
soon be in that general’s camp, and would send a trumpeter 
to the citizens to forbid them harming any of his servants. 

Sunday had been selected for the assassination, because, 
as Orange dined in state on that day, it would be easy to get 
near him. The previous Friday Jaureguy, after confessing to 
Timmerman, the Dominican friar, revealed to him his design 
of destroying the great tyrant and heretic. The monk, while 
warning him of the danger of the undertaking, said that if 
his motives were zeal for the Catholic Church and the glory 
of God, and not greed for gain, he should approve the act. 
He then granted the youth absolution and administered the 
sacrament to him. By accepting Anastro’s terms Jaureguy 
was to have a little less than three thousand dollars of the 
eighty thousand promised by Philip. 

After a formal trial and conviction, the assassin’s accom¬ 
plices, Venero and Timmerman, were publicly strangled and 
quartered on the Grand Square at Antwerp ten days after 
Jaureguy’s attempt. They were spared torture at the request 
of Orange, who declared that he forgave their offences against 
himself. Before going to execution the friar voluntarily 
confessed that he was wrong in supposing that it was lawful 
to kill the prince because the king had proscribed him. 
Having been convinced of his error he wished publicly to 
recant it. The remains of the two victims were fastened 
to the walls and gates of Antwerp, as ghastly warnings of 
the peril of attempts upon the life of William the Silent. 
There they remained till the great city fell into Philip’s 
hands, when they were taken down and buried with the 
rites of the Catholic Church. 

In the excitement attending the discovery of the plot 
several innocent persons had been arrested; among them was 
Lx)uis Guicciardini, a Florentine, the author of a very valuable 
description of the Netherlands of j:h^t JJe was accu §^4 


28o History of the Netherlands, 

of frequently visiting Anastro, of dining at his house a short 
time before the assassination, contrary to his usual custom, 
and of writing a letter to a friend in Paris in ridicule of 
Anjou’s inauguration. Guicciardini and two other sus¬ 
pected persons were promptly acquitted, but a fourth was 
kept in prison for a month. Anastro was doomed to per¬ 
petual banishment, and, as he had not appeared for trial, 
notwithstanding a public summons repeated five times from 
week to week, a reward of a thousand crowns was offered 
for his arrest. 

Meanwhile the condition of Orange had been slowly im¬ 
proving. ^The closeness of the assassin’s pistol to his victim 
had caused the flame to cauterize the wound and thus pre¬ 
vent bleeding. The prince’s strong constitution, which even 
the weight of public cares and occasional excesses at table 
had not weakened, encouraged the doctors’ belief in his 
recovery. Anjou now visited him daily, and, though not 
allowed to speak, William wrote freely. By order of the duke 
and the council of state, a day of prayer was announced by 
sound of trumpet in.Antwerp for March 21, and the states- 
general suspended their deliberations in order to unite with 
the tearful crowds in the churches. As the success of their 
cause depended on the safety of Orange, little confidence 
being had in the French duke, the people were still anxious, 
but letters from William himself to the magistrates two days 
later allayed these fears. 

Three weeks after the assault the public were again greatly 
alarmed. Bleeding broke out with such force as seriously 
to weaken the patient. Believing his death imminent, the 
prince sent St. Aldegonde to the states-general to en¬ 
treat their allegiance to Anjou, as the only hope of sav¬ 
ing the country. These patriotic appeals were tenderly 
responded to by the grateful but sorrowing assembly. The 
news of the crisis, while depressing the patriots, delighted 


1582. Joy at Oranges Recovery. 281 

the enemies of the national cause. Mendoza, the Spanish 
ambassador in England, and Mary Queen of Scots exulted 
at this seeming death-blow to the great heretic and rebel; 
while Elizabeth, who feared her turn would come next, vowed 
she would get Anjou back and marry him. Again the duke 
ordered public prayers in the churches in the different cities 
for the prince’s recovery. After many vain attempts to check 
the flow of blood, Anjou’s physician, Leonardo Botalli, em¬ 
ployed a simple but effective expedient. He had a num¬ 
ber of attendants take turns in keeping the wound closed 
by the pressure of their fingers. By this means the prince 
was enabled to gain strength, and the bleeding was perma¬ 
nently overcome. On the 2d of May, 1582, he offered thanks 
for his recovery in the Cathedral of Antwerp, and, as all busi¬ 
ness was suspended by order of the magistrates, the great 
temple overflowed with grateful worshippers. The joy of 
Orange was clouded by the death of his devoted wife, 
Charlotte of Bourbon, who, worn out by care and anxiety, 
was carried off three days afterward by a fever. She had been 
a great comfort to the prince during their seven years’ union, 
though it had exposed her to great abuse by its Catholic and 
Protestant opponents. Yet the people mourned her loss 
hardly less deeply than her husband, to whom she left six 
daughters. 

The news of Jaureguy’s attempt reached the Prince of 
Parma at Tournay six days afterward. As Orange was 
reported dead he at once wrote to the king- that his heart 
had burst at the long delay of retribution, but that God 
should be thanked for at last permitting the removal of the 
wretch who had been such a pest and poison to the poor 
provinces. The next day he wrote to one of Philip’s minis¬ 
ters, rejoicing at this judgment of the Almighty upon the 
man who had abused his bounty, and done so much injury 
to Christianity. He also appealed to the cities to return to 


282 


History of the Netherlands. 


their allegiance to their gracious sovereign. So little did he 
know of Orange’s condition, despite the efforts of his spies 
and messengers, that two months passed after the prince’s 
recovery before he was convinced of it. Cardinal Granvelle, 
who had heard of the assault at Madrid, wrote several letters 
to his friends, rejoicing at the fate of his old opponent, which 
he regretted had not come sooner. The king, being in Port¬ 
ugal, had so many conflicting reports of the case that Parma’s 
glowing despatches did not make much impression on him. 

Anastro had hastened from Calais to Tournay to inform 
the governor-general of his plot. He arrived two days after 
Jaureguy had made his attempt on the prince’s life, but 
th'e news did not come till four days afterward. The crafty 
merchant was warmly welcomed by Parma, who, on writ¬ 
ing to Philip about the desperate deed, urged him to pay 
Anastro all he had promised and even more, and also to 
reward Jaureguy’s parents, in order to terrify all persons who 
might seek to take the place of the Prince of Orange. 
Anastro himself wrote to the king, saying that despite the 
denials of the heretics, he believed the Catholic reports of 
the prince’s death, because people had been publicly forbid¬ 
den to speak of it under severe penalties; he also said that 
Anjou and St. Aldegonde had concealed their loss to enable 
the French to secure several cities. Being eager for his 
blood-money Anastro declared that the event had caused 
such a sensation in the country that people anxiously awaited 
his Majesty’s recognition of it and payment of the reward, 
in order to alarm Anjou and his friends for their safety. He 
said he had announced that the death of Grange was a pun¬ 
ishment for his dishonest reply to Philip’s ban, and that if he 
had not given the fatal blow thirty other gentlemen would 
have come from Spain in turn to deliver it. The cunning 
merchant added that the Prince of Parma had approved his 
spreading this report because it would be a useful warning tg 


1582. Afiastro seeks his Blood-Money. 283 

others. This letter was written April 17, 1582, but months 
passed away without the writer receiving his expected reward. 

Meantime Orange had got well, yet the hopeful Anastro 
set out for Spain in September to obtain the blood-money. 
But though Parma wrote another letter to Philip in favor of 
a suitable compensation both for him and for Jaureguy’s 
parents, in order to incite others to similar . devotion, the thrifty 
king did not follow his advice. Thus the cowardly wretch 
Anastro, who, for his own selfish ends, tempted his two mis¬ 
guided young clerks to commit an infamous crime, failed to 
obtain its price. Unfortunately, the fate of the merchant’s 
dupes was to be no safeguard for William of Orange from 
the deadly bullet of an assassin. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THE “FRENCH FURY.” 

In their joy at the recovery of their beloved “ Father Wil¬ 
liam ” the grateful people insisted upon his becoming their 
ruler for life instead of for the war. ‘ Cherishing the memory 
of the long line of Counts of Holland, they were eager to 
invest their patriot chief with these historic honors. The 
Netherlanders were fond of the pomps and dignities of 
government, and though republican at heart were attached 
to monarchical forms. As their companions in revolt had 
installed Anjou as Duke of Brabant, the sturdy Dutchmen 
resolved to have their own sovereign count. The prince ac¬ 
cepted this office from the states of Holland, Aug. 14, 1582, 
and in response to their appeal the deputies of Zealand and 
Utrecht declared their intention to unite under the new 
ruler. 

Nearly two years passed before the matter was settled, 
owing mainly to the opposition of the governments of some 
of the cities of Holland and Zealand, the chief of which were 
Gouda and the powerful Amsterdam. It required great ex¬ 
ertions by the people and the nobility to make the jealous 
municipalities submit to the establishment of an hereditary 
ruler, although that ruler was their beloved prince.^ The 

1 English and American historians of the Netherlands have, strangely enough, 
omitted to mention the opposition of these cities to the sovereignty of William 
the Silent, which is an important link in the chain of municipal difficulties 
with the house of Orange which were so marked under his successors. The fact 


1582. 


A Liberal ConstittUio 7 t. 


285 


agreement by which the government of Anjou was formally 
disclaimed was called the act of “ Reversal.” The new con¬ 
stitution was based upon the ‘‘ Groot Privilegie,” the Magna 
Charta of Holland, and under it Orange relinquished his 
sovereign powers and divided his authority with the states. 
With the council they formed two legislative chambers with¬ 
out whose consent no law could be enacted. Thus liberal 
princij)les were established for the new government. The 
inauguration of William the Silent was to be the final act in 
the political drama, but that act was fated never to be carried 
out. 

While his revolted provinces were thus strengthening their 
cause, Philip II. was wasting his time in hesitation and delay. 
Granvelle complained sadly in his letters to confidential 
friends of the king’s attention to details which prevented him 
from mastering serious business. The subtle cardinal could 
not bear to have a powerful monarch make a plodding clerk 
of himself. ‘‘ There is not a secretary in the world,” he 
wrote, “ who handles so many papers as the king.” 

William of Orange had earnestly appealed to the states of 
the united provinces in May, 1582, to furnish aid to Anjou, 
who in the following November complained bitterly of their 
neglect of their treaty obligations. The duke, in his turn, 
warmly seconded the efforts of the prince to obtain from the 
states of Brabant compensation for his sacrifices for the 
country which had plunged him deeply into debt. 

One of the conditions on which the Walloon provinces had 
resumed allegiance to Philip was the withdrawal of the foreign 
troops. The states, however, graciously yielded to Parma’s 
desire for their return to battle with Anjou and the united 


is established by the early historians Bor and Wagenaar, and has been elabo¬ 
rately considered by Groen van Prinsterer, “ Archives de la Maison d’Orange- 
Nassau,” tom. viii. pp. 422-425. The circumstances are well stated by Stem, 
“Commencements de la Republique aux Pays-Bas,” pp. 124, 125, Paris, 1872. 


286 


History of the Netherlands. 


provinces, now bound by treaty to carry on the war. As the 
presence of these hated soldiers had been one of the princi¬ 
pal grievances of the Netherlanders, it is remarkable that the 
prince’s plan should have been so generally favored. In fact, 
the Walloon people and clergy wanted the troops back, but 
jealousy of the Spanish commanders and fear of Philip’s ven¬ 
geance excited the opposition of the nobles. Parma, how¬ 
ever, skilfully overcame their objections, and in the summer 
of 1582 the once dreaded soldiery again marched into the 
provinces. Meantime Alexander Farnese had captured sev¬ 
eral important cities. The qualities which enabled him to 
win victories were strikingly shown at the siege of Oudenarde. 
He personally headed his soldiers with spade or spear, and 
encouraged them by his contempt of danger. 

Oudenarde surrendered on the 5th of July, escaping the 
customary pillage by the payment of thirty thousand crowns. 
Yet the king’s neglect to provide supplies forced Parma’s 
troops during their next siege, which was aptly called the 
Ninove Starvation,” to eat nearly all their horses. One of 
the prince’s aids, wjio had incautiously left his steed at the 
entrance of the commander’s tent, found on coming out 
shortly afterward only the saddle and bridle remaining. The 
poor animal had been at once sacrificed for food. Although 
Anjou drove the royal forces away from the- city of Lochum, 
he was not able to save Steenwyk, which was betrayed by a 
Frisian peasant into the hands of its Spanish assailants. 

After the Prince of Orange had recovered from Jaureguy’s 
assault he accompanied the Duke of Anjou to Bruges for his 
inauguration as Count of Flanders. During this same month 
of July he had been tendered the title of Duke of Gelderland 
and Lord of Friesland. Amid the gay festivities in the old 
Flemish city rumors of a desperate plot against the new sov¬ 
ereign disturbed the merry-makers. One Nicholas Salseda, 
a Spaniard, and an Italian named Francis Baza, were arrested 


582. 


The Salseda Conspiracy. 


287 


on suspicion of being agents of Parma to assassinate Anjou 
in the interests of the intriguing French family of Guise 
against his brother, Henry III. Historians have generally 
supposed that Parma employed this Spaniard and Italian to 
poison either William of Orange or the Duke of Anjou, or 
both. But letters of Alexander Farnese and Tassis, the Span¬ 
ish ambassador in France, to Philip 11 ., which have lately 
been brought to light show that, the object of the conspira¬ 
tors was not assassination, but simply to get possession of 
the citadel of Cambray through the treachery of one of its 
officers.1 

Salseda, having suggested this scheme, had been sent by 
the Prince of Parma, to whom he had been recommended 
by the Duke of Lorraine and other French dignitaries, in 
company with Baza to spy into the condition and movements 
of Anjou’s army. Threats and promises made Salseda con¬ 
fess that he intended to destroy both the prince and the duke, 
but he repeatedly retracted the confession when he found 
that nothing was to be gained by it. The parliament of Paris 
ordered the written charges which the Spaniard had made 
against certain dignitaries to be burned as false and malicious. 
Among the persons whom Salseda had falsely accused was 
Lamoral Egmont, the younger son of the famous general. 
As William the Silent had been very kind to the youth, the 
charge seemed incredible, yet many persons believed that 
Egmont had planned to poison him at his own table, and 
also to destroy St. Aldegonde. The poison was said to be 
concealed in a ring found in the young man’s lodgings. 

Baza had, like Salseda, confessed his guilt, but he escaped 
punishment by committing suicide in prison. His body was 
hung on a gibbet with an account of his pretended crime. 
The Spaniard was tried and convicted in Paris, and the bar- 

1 See “ Correspondance de Guillaume le Taciturne,” tom. vi. chap, v., pub¬ 
lished since Motley’s “ History of the Rise of the Dutch Republic.” 


288 History of the Netherlands. 

barous sentence that he should be -pulled to pieces by four 
horses was literally executed. As a spy and a traitor Salseda 
merited death, but he was punished for crimes which he did 
not commit, in order to shield the ministers of the Duke of 
Anjou, who had urged him to confess them. To conceal his 
real policy, that ruler was obliged to advance a false one. It 
has been supposed that the reported conspiracy of the Lor¬ 
raine princes against his brother, Henry III. of France, was 
invented Ijy Orange and Anjou to force him to break with 
them and make war against Spain. In that age of plots and 
counter-plots such a scheme was by no means improbable. 

Anjou did not long retain the confidence of his Nether- 
land subjects. His neglect to oppose the advance of Parma 
excited their suspicions, while he blamed the weary states for 
throwing the burden of defence on him. At Ghent, which 
was the only place that beat off the Spanish army, the Eng¬ 
lish volunteers under Sir John Norris bore the brunt of the 
contest. As the discontented Catholics in the towns were 
intriguing with Spain, Anjou resolved to strike a decisive blow 
for himself. He had kept a good deal of the money given 
him by Queen Elizabeth to pay his troops, to execute his 
plot against the liberties of the Netherlands. Then he bor¬ 
rowed large sums on pretence that he was acting for her as 
her promised husband, and assured Orange that she and the 
king, his brother, approved his bringing over fresh forces 
from France. With these supplies of men and money he 
was ready for action. Being heir to the French throne, he 
longed to unite the provinces with his future dominions, and 
he had been told by some of the worthless young nobles of 
his household that this was the only way to secure his royal 
brother’s aid. Anjou’s jealousy of Orange being thus ex¬ 
cited, he quietly increased the French garrisons in a number 
of cities in Flanders. On the 15th of January, 1583, Dun¬ 
kirk, Ostend, Dixmuyde, Dendermonde, Alost, and Vilvoorde 



VIEW IN ANTWERP. 





















































































































































































































583. 


Anjoiis Treachery. 


291 


were suddenly seized. Delay in the attempt at Bruges put 
the burghers on their guard, and saved the city. Antwerp 
had been reserved for Anjou’s own efforts. 

The duke had gathered a body of French troops just out¬ 
side the walls on pretence of moving against a place held by 
Parma. Strange rumors were afloat in Antwerp. On the 
night of the i6th of January a man in a mask gave warning 
at the main guard-house of impending danger. There were 
vague suspicions of Anjou, but his outrages of the day before 
were not yet known. By the advice of Orange precautions 
were taken against a sudden attack. The lanterns were hung 
out in front of the houses, and the drawbridge was raised an 
hour before the regular time. Anjou’s earnest denial of any 
evil intent, and warm expressions of affection for Antwerp, 
restored confidence. 

The next morning the duke renewed his promises of 
fidelity, and agreed not to leave the city that day; yet he 
soon afterward tried to induce Orange to accompany him to 
the camp. Failing in this attempt he mounted his horse 
and rode out of the Kipdorp gate at the head of three hun¬ 
dred gayly dressed cavaliers. After passing the first draw¬ 
bridge Anjou ordered them to turn back and capture the 
city, while he pushed on for reinforcements. 

On reaching the guard-house Count Rochepot, commander 
of the French troops, pretending that his horse had forced 
him. against the wall, cried out that his leg was broken. 
This was the preconcerted signal for an attack on the burgher 
guard at the gate, who were butchered while rushing to the 
assistance of the supposed wounded man. The troops from 
the camp, consisting of six hundred cavalry and three thou¬ 
sand musketeers, now dashed furiously into the town, shout¬ 
ing, “ City taken, city taken ! The Mass forever ! Hurrah 
for the Duke of Anjou ! Kill, kill, kill! ” 

It happened to be the dinner hour in Antwerp, and the 


292 


History of the Netherlands, 


streets were almost deserted. As the startled citizens rushed 
to their doors they were fired upon by the invaders, who 
made haste to turn the cannon on the ramparts towards 
the city. No time was lost by the inhabitants in giving the 
alarm. Bells rang, trumpets sounded, and the drums of the 
militia beat to arms. Some burgher guards who had escaped 
from the massacre at the Kipdorp gate aided in rousing the 
people. Chains and barricades were stretched across the 
streets. The Exchange was the principal rallying point. All 
classes turned out to defend the liberties of Antwerp. Catho¬ 
lics and Protestants united to repel the invader. Every avail¬ 
able weapon and implement was brought into use. A baker, 
tending his oven half-naked, rushed to the street on hearing 
the disturbance. Seeing a French cavalry officer dashing by, 
he struck him a tremendous blow with his heavy bread-shovel. 
The officer fell dead to the pavement. The baker, without 
stopping to dress, grasped his victim’s sword, mounted his 
horse, and rode furiously through the streets encouraging the 
citizens and alarming the enemy. Women and children 
aided in repelling the* assailants, upon whom they hurled tiles 
and chimney-pots, and heavy furniture from windows and 
house-tops. When their supply of bullets gave out the burgh¬ 
ers used instead silver buttons from their doublets, and with 
their teeth twisted gold and silver coins into slugs for their 
firearms. 

So fierce was the onset of the people that the invaders 
were unable to withstand it. To add to their alarm the 
militia had recaptured the cannon on the ramparts, and 
turned them against the forces of Anjou, which were advanc¬ 
ing upon the city. The enemy were now completely panic- 
stricken. They fled in dismay towards the gate by which 
they had entered the town. Many were slain by the pursu¬ 
ing burghers, and some by Count Rochepot, the French 
commander, to check the retreat. And so the slaughter 


1583. Gallant Defence of A^itwerp. 293 

went on, a barrier of corpses ten feet high being heaped up 
in the narrow passage through which the fugitives sought to 
escape. Of the four thousand dashing soldiers whom Anjou 
had expected would capture Antwerp two thirds were killed 
or taken prisoners. The rest escaped by springing from the 
walls and swimming across the moats. Nearly two thousand 
Frenchmen lay dead in the streets, among them being two 
hundred and sixty nobles of distinction in splendid attire. 
Yet less than a hundred burghers were slain. The kind- 
hearted citizens cared tenderly for their wounded enemies, 
the dead were carefully buried, and the survivors released 
without ransom. Thus a lesson of benevolence as well as of 
bravery was taught by these simple burghers to their ambi¬ 
tious assailants. 

Anjou, who had been watching the city at a distance, 
shouted with joy as he saw men leaping from the ramparts. 
He thought they were citizens trying to escape, v/hen in fact 
they were his fugitive soldiers. The Duke of Montpensier 
and several other distinguished French nobles to whom he 
had not dared to reveal his scheme, now rebuked his treachery 
so severely that when he saw it had miserably failed he 
mounted his horse and fled to hide his shame. 

Orange did not know of the action till it was nearly over, 
as he lived at a distance from the spot where it began. 
As the invaders were in retreat when he reached the scene, 
he prevailed upon the inhabitants to cease firing, so as not to 
needlessly irritate their allies. This memorable contest was 
called the French Fury, though it differed a great deal from 
the terrible Spanish Fury. Fortunately for the burghers of 
Antwerp at this second onslaught upon their lives and prop¬ 
erty, they had relied for protection upon themselves instead 
of upon treacherous or cowardly hirelings, while the invaders, 
in their eagerness for plunder, neglected to secure possession 
of the city. 


294 


History of the Netherlands. 


But the Duke of Anjou’s difficulties were not yet over. 
To check his retreat the citizens of Mechlin cut a dyke, and 
the flood drowned a thousand of his soldiers. Yet on reach¬ 
ing a place of safety he had the impudence to claim from 
the Prince of Orange and the authorities of Antwerp the re¬ 
turn of his property, liberation of the French prisoners, and 
supplies for his troops. Some of these demands being granted, 
he began to assume a tone of injured innocence. This was 
.more than the states could bear. They had thought it pru¬ 
dent to overlook Anjou’s treachery, but they felt insulted by 
his offers of forgiveness. 

The Netherlanders were now so excited against the duke 
that many preferred to submit to their old enemy, Spain, rather 
than to this false friend. Being appealed to by Anjou to re¬ 
store his authority. Orange wrote him a warning and reproving 
letter. He also wrote to Queen Elizabeth asking if she 
would aid the states should France seek revenge for the 
slaughter at Antwerp. As the queen insisted on the restora¬ 
tion of Anjou, the prince, who had also received an appeal 
from the crafty Catherine de Medici, was led to favor this 
policy. He felt it would be folly for the Netherlands to 
offend England, and then have to fight France and Spain 
single-handed. In a remarkable address to the states-gen- 
eral, which vindicated his own conduct and rebuked the quar¬ 
relsome, niggardly, and disunion tendencies of the provinces, 
he maintained that their safety depended upon a reconcilia¬ 
tion with the duke. 

While Anjou was assuming airs of suffering virtue with the 
states he was secretly intriguing to sell the stolen cities to 
Spain for other Netherland cities on the French frontier. 
Though Orange discovered this intrigue he still favored the 
duke’s restoration as a choice of evils. It was therefore for¬ 
mally agreed upon. Yet Anjou was deeply distrusted. The 
gallant English colonel. Sir John Norris, who had been blamed 



SPANISH SHIPS, 















































































































































































1584. Treacherous Intrigues with Spain. 297 

by the queen for not protecting the duke’s retreat at the time 
of the French Fury, refused to remain under command of the 
traitor. He was afraid that Anjou would bribe some of his 
officers to betray the states. His fears were not baseless. 
One of these dishonorable Englishmen sold the town of 
Alost to the Spaniards not long afterward. 

On the 28th of June, 1583, Anjou left Dunkirk for Paris, 
expecting to return as sovereign of the United Provinces. 
Before long the feeling in favor of Orange became so strong 
that the states urged him to accept the supreme power. 
But he refused this honor, as well as the dukedom of Bra¬ 
bant, on the ground that the country needed a more power¬ 
ful protector. On the 12th of the previous April he had 
taken for his fourth wife Louisa, widow of Lord Teligny, and 
daughter of the famous Admiral Coligny, one of the victims 
of the St. Bartholomew massacre. 

Meanwhile Parma easily took the cities which Anjou’s 
intrigues had weakened. Dunkirk, Gravelines, and Nieuport 
fell one after another. Being on the seaboard they were 
very useful for his proposed invasion of England. Soon 
Zutphen was captured, and a paper found confirming the sus¬ 
pected treachery of the brother-in-law of Orange, Count Van 
den Berg. As soon as he was released from imprisonment 
he made haste to go over with all his sons to the enemy. A 
secret plot to deliver Flanders to the Spanish government was 
also discovered. The conspirators were Champagny, who, 
from his prison in Ghent, sought to revenge himself on his per¬ 
secutors, the Prince of Chimay, governor of the province, a 
son of the Duke of Aerschot, and like him a treacherous 
intriguer, and the unscrupulous agitator, Imbize. They pre¬ 
vailed upon the authorities of Ghent to treat with Parma. 
This was early in the spring of 1584. But the remonstrances 
of Orange and other liberal leaders against such a sacrifice 
of the country checked the movement, and it received a 


298 History of the Netherlands, 

death-blow by the discovery that Imbize was secretly attempt¬ 
ing to surrender the city of Dendermonde to Spain. Now 
the commandant of that city was Lord Ryhove, the old asso¬ 
ciate of Imbize. Being warned of the plot he had the arch 
demagogue arrested and taken to Ghent, where he expiated 
his crime on the scaffold.^ That turbulent city and nearly 
the whole of Flanders were thus saved to the Union for a 
time. 

Anjou’s treachery incited other intrigues for restoring the 
provinces which had accepted him as their sovereign, to 
Spain. The Walloon nobles urged the states and leading 
cities to return to the pious protection of Philip. In the 
reaction against the perfidious French duke, Orange himself 
became an object of suspicion, excited by Spanish agents on 
one side and Calvinistic zealots on the other. He was 
charged with having sold the country to France; and his 
marriage with the daughter of Admiral Coligny and accept¬ 
ance of the government of Holland and Zealand were ad¬ 
duced as evidence of his disloyalty. It was even said that 
he had favored Anjou’s attempt upon Antwerp, and the fact 
that he did not appear on the scene till the French were in 
retreat, and then gave orders to spare them, was urged as 
proof of his artful treachery. A report soon spread that he 
had concealed a body of these false foreign troops in the 
castle of Antwerp, and Anjou himself was said to be secreted 
there. The excited populace advanced to the gates, and 
clamored loudly for admission. The prince calmly ordered 


^ Van der Vynckt moralizes over the fate of Imbize, who was nearly sev¬ 
enty years old, as a strange example, of popular inconstancy. The leaders of 
the state had trembled before him; he had changed its destiny; thirty thousand 
men had risen when his liberty was threatened five years before, and the tumult 
could only be calmed by bringing him before them. Yet those who had idol¬ 
ized and those who had dreaded him beheld his execution with equal indiffer¬ 
ence. “ Histoire des Troubles des Pays-Bas,” edition Reiffenberg, tom. ii. pp. 
119, 120. Bruxelles, 1836. 


1584- Death of Anjou, 299 

the portals to be opened, and allowed the multitude to search 
the citadel. Though abashed by finding nothing to justify 
their suspicions, the disaffected populace continued their in¬ 
dignities. As the magistrates took no steps to prevent these 
disorders, the prince resolved to leave the ungrateful land 
and seek comfort in his ever-faithful Holland. He accord¬ 
ingly went to Delft, where in February, 1584, his wife gave 
birth to a son, Frederick Henry, the future stadtholder, who 
was destined to render brilliant servicesTo his country. 

While arrangements were being made for the renewal of 
Anjou’s government on a constitutional basis, the news of his 
death, which occurred at Chateau-Thierry in France on the 
loth of June, 1584, startled the provinces. Though his 
enemies, the Guises, were suspected of having poisoned him, 
it is probable that his life was cut short by his licentious 
habits and disappointed ambition. The fatal shock was said 
to have been caused by the news that-the magistrates of 
Antwerp had instituted an annual festival to celebrate the 
expulsion of the French from the city. Queen Elizabeth put 
her court in mourning for her dead lover, but her affected 
grief soon gave place to real sorrow and alarm. A terrible 
blow was struck in the Netherlands which filled the land with 
sadness, and gave great joy to the enemies of civil and relig¬ 
ious freedom in Europe. 


CHAPTER XVIIL 


ASSASSINATION OF WILLIAM THE SILENT. 

Many attempts upon the life of Orange had been incited 
by Philip’s ban with its promised rewards. Jaureguy’s fate 
did not put a stop to these perilous ventures. On the 3d of 
March, 1583, a Spaniard named Peter Ordono was executed 
in Antwerp, where he had been living in disguise and under 
an assumed name. He had been encouraged by Parma and 
Philip in his murderous scheme. The weapon which he pro¬ 
posed to use was a dagger. A rich merchant named Hans 
Hanzoon was beheaded at Flushing on the 15 th of April, 
1584, for attempting the prince’s life. He. is said to have 
planned to blow Orange up with gunpowder while in church 
or at a hotel, to kill him with muskets, and to cut his throat. 
This desperate merchant was believed to have arranged the 
assassination with Tassis, the Spanish ambassador at Paris. 

One Francis Paredes, a Spaniard, who after toiling in the 
galleys had entered the service of Orange, plotted to kill the 
prince and St. Aldegonde, and to deliver the city of Flushing 
to the enemy. His confederates were three other Spanish 
officers in the patriot army. Parma and Tassis encouraged 
their project. The skilful Mondragon was selected to lead 
the assault on Flushing on the night of November 30, but it 
was finally abandoned as impracticable. In April, 1584, a 
French officer named Le Goth, who had been captured by 
the Spaniards, sought to regain his liberty by pretending a 
desire to assassinate Orange. His plan, as revealed to Panna 


1584. Balthazar Gerard, the Fanatic. 301 

and the Marquis of Roubaix, was to put poison in the pot in 
which eels were cooked for the prince. Though the two 
Spanish commanders suspected Le Goth’s knavery, his re¬ 
lease was granted for a small ransom. Yet the crafty French¬ 
man declared that Parma and Roubaix had used threats to 
compel him to betray one of the enemy’s fortresses, and had 
proposed the assassination scheme. The true facts of the 
case have but recently come to light. 

The failure of so many attempts to assassinate the Silent 
Prince did not discourage the governor-general, but it made 
him more careful in the choice of means. Though the re¬ 
wards offered by the ban against Orange tempted every cut¬ 
throat in Europe, most of the applicants were eager to make 
their fortunes without risking their lives. A more resolute 
character now came forward. 

On the 21 St of March, 1584, a common-looking man, short 
and thin in person, called upon the governor-general at 
Tournay with a written plan of assassinating William of 
Orange. The stranger’s mean appearance and high-flown 
style of writing led Parma to class him with the worthless 
fellows on whom he had wasted time and money. The 
man, v/ho was about twenty-seven years of age, had come 
from Villefans in Burgundy, where his parents lived, to carry 
out his scheme. His name was Balthazar Gerard, and he 
belonged to a well-known Catholic family. In his letter he 
expressed surprise that no one but “ the gentle Biscayan, 
since deceased” (meaning Jaureguy), had been willing to 
risk his life in executing the king’s orders. Though noble 
knights could not be expected to defile body and soul by 
associating with the prince, he would make the sacrifice to 
rid the world of an obstinate wretch who had thus far escaped 
punishment. He added that he had formed a plan for en¬ 
trapping the fox by getting access to him under favorable 
circumstances. This plan, which would be explained to the 


302 


History of the Netherlands. 


most serene Prince of Parma if he approved the undertak¬ 
ing, would also be the means of discovering spies and trai¬ 
tors. In conclusion Gerard protested that he did not propose 
the exploit for the reward, not wishing to imitate persons who 
desired pay for doing their duty, and still less to be thought 
so presumptuous as to pretend that his service to the king 
was prompted by reliance on his majesty’s immense liberality 
instead of by his own sincere affection. 

After reading this strange screed Parma sent the writer 
away as unfit for serious work. Having already four persons 
of different nations under pay in the city of Delft waiting a 
chance to kill the prince, the governor-general did not care 
to employ this paltry youth. But as some of his friends 
thought he had acted hastily in dismissing the young man, 
he sent his trusty councillor D’Assonleville to him to learn 
more of his scheme. Gerard proposed to get into the ser¬ 
vice of Orange by pretending to be the son of a martyred 
Protestant escaping Catholic persecution. Having taken 
impressions of some royalist seals, he intended to offer them 
to the prince for forging passports for spies. He declared 
that nothing but zeal for the Catholic religion and the king’s 
cause prompted his act. Besides requesting a pardon from 
the governor-general he humbly begged for absolution from 
the pope in order not to risk both soul and body among the 
heretics. On D’Assonleville’s warning him of the danger of 
assailing the Prince of Orange in the centre of Holland sur¬ 
rounded by his guards, Gerard said he was willing to suffer 
torture and death provided he could deliver the country 
from the tyrant whom God had commissioned him to de¬ 
stroy. 

When Parma learned these facts he changed his opinion 
of the young man, and wrote to the king that he had directed 
him to execute his scheme. D’Assonleville had promised 
Gerard in the prince’s name the rewards assured by the 









































1584- Movements of the Assassin. 305 

ban in case of success, telling him, however, not to betray 
Parma’s connection with it if arrested. ‘‘ Go forth, my son,” 
added the patronizing councillor, and if you perform this 
deed the king will fulfil all his promises, and you will be 
immortalized.” 

Encouraged by these assurances the youth at once set 
about his work. He had brooded over the design of killing 
William the Silent for years. Having been brought up to 
regard the great patriot as an infamous rebel and heretic, the 
young fanatic felt in duty bound to destroy him. When but 
twenty years of age Balthazar was so enraged by the reports 
of troubles incited by the prince between Don John of Aus¬ 
tria and the provinces that he struck a dagger fiercely into a 
door, exclaiming, Would that this blow had reached the 
heart of Orange ! ” Another Burgundian present rebuked 
the lad, saying that it was not for him to kill or menace 
princes; that the king was powerful enough to deal with 
Orange, but that he did not wish to destroy so good a cap¬ 
tain, who might be brought back to his service. This remon¬ 
strance seemed to calm the youth, but the publication of 
Philip’s ban revived his early feelings. After waiting nearly 
two years for others to execute the king’s command, he set 
out in February, 1582, to do the work himself. On arriving 
at Luxemburg he heard that Jaureguy had killed the prince. 
The news led him to settle down quietly as clerk to his 
cousin, who was secretary to Count Mansfeld, governor of 
the province. Gerard’s murderous resolve was soon excited 
by hearing of Orange’s recovery. He now obtained impres¬ 
sions of Mansfeld’s official seals in wax in order to secure 
favor with his intended victim. A theft in the office and his 
cousin’s sickness delayed his departure till March, 1584. 

Before seeking out the object of his fanatical fury Gerard 
consulted the regent of the Jesuit College at Treves, and a 
learned Franciscan friar at Tournay. They blessed him and 


20 


3 o6 History of the Netherlands. 

his undertaking, and it was by the Jesuit’s advice that he was 
led to apply to Parma. ■ 

Balthazar reached Delft early in May. Representing him¬ 
self to Villiers, Orange’s chaplain and trusty counsellor, as 
Francis Guion, the son of a martyred Protestant, he showed 
hiitl the forged seals. Gerard wished to enter the prince’s 
service, but was disappointed in being sent with the seals to 
France. While there the death of the Duke of Anjou en¬ 
abled him to become the bearer of despatches to the Prince 
of Orange, who was then living in the dreamy, picturesque 
old Dutch town of Delft. His plain brick house, with a red- 
tiled roof, which had formerly been a convent, was called, as 
his residence, the Prinzen Hof. It looked out on a large 
courtyard facing the pleasant tree-lined street and canal, and 
was bordered on one side by a narrow lane leading to the 
city wall. The prince’s offices and stables were in the rear 
of the house. 

While in bed Sunday morning, the 8th of July, 1584, Wil¬ 
liam the Silent received despatches from the French court 
announcing the d^th of Anjou. After reading the papers 
Orange sent for the messenger to learn the particulars of the 
sad event. He proved to be the same young man who had 
accompanied the mission. Gerard, who was still pretending 
to be Francis Guion, was astonished at this summons to the 
prince’s chamber. It seemed impossible that the great here¬ 
tic could be within his power. Had Orange not been 
absorbed with the news from France, his suspicions would 
have been excited by the fanatic’s nervous manner. Being 
unarmed he could not then execute his murderous 'scheme; 
but he had gained a footing for it. 

To disarm suspicion Balthazar now went regularly to church, 
and was seemingly intent upon his devotions, always carrying 
a psalm or other religious book in his hand. Then he bor¬ 
rowed a Bible from the gate-keeper, and read from it in his 



THE ASSASSINATION OF ORANGE, 


307 













t 







1584. 


07 'ange's Impejidmg Fate. 


309 


presence, in order to gain the confidence of the prince’s 
servants. An unexpected circumstance led him to hasten the 
execution of his long-cherished purpose. He was informed 
that he must get ready to go back to France with despatches, 
and that there was nothing more for him to do in the prince’s 
establishment. Thereupon he asked for some money to buy 
shoes and stockings, as his own were not fit to wear. Wil¬ 
liam of Orange, hearing of his needs, ordered a dozen crowns 
to be given him. The next day he purchased a pistol from 
a soldier of the prince’s guard, but the flint missing fire he 
bought two others of a sergeant, which he tried several times, 
to satisfy himself of their quality. He quarrelled with another 
soldier, who refused to let him have some slugs. Though in¬ 
tending to kill the prince that day, he did not dare make the 
attempt because he had no means of escape. Having mean¬ 
time made the necessary arrangements, he went to the house 
of Orange the next morning prepared for the desperate deed. 
Wishing to ascertain whether the prince would come down 
to dinner, Gerard waited at the foot of the stairway which led 
to his chamber. 

At about half-past twelve o’clock on the loth of July, 1584, 
William the Silent, with his wife and other members of his 
family, descended to the hall on his way to the dining-room. 
He was simply dressed, as usual, in a yellow leather doublet, 
a loose coat of coarse gray cloth, and wide trousers. Round 
his neck, from which hung one of the old-time “ beggars’ ” 
medals, was a high ruff, and his broad felt hat was like those 
worn by those early agitators. When the prince reached the 
doorway Ge'rard came forward and asked for a passport. 
His forbidding countenance and trembling voice alarmed the 
princess, who anxiously asked her husband who the man was. 
Orange said it was only a person who wanted a passport, and 
that one should be prepared for him. 

Meanwhile Balthazar went out to get his pistols, one of 


310 History of the Netherlands, 

which he loaded with two balls, and the other with three. 
He was seen walking towards the stables behind the house in 
the direction of the ramparts. Returning before the prince 
had finished his dinner, he stationed himself near the door of 
the dining-hall in a little vestibule, on the left side of which 
was a deep, sunken arch, connecting by a gate with the nar¬ 
row lane at the back of the house. With the pistols in his 
belt, concealed by his cloak, Gerard, leaning against a pillar, 
awaited the approach of his victim. 

There was but one guest at the family dinner, the burgo¬ 
master of a Friesland city, and Orange talked freely with 
him about affairs in that province. At two o’clock the prince 
rose from the table, and after exchanging a few words with 
the English colonel, Morgan, who had just entered the hall, 
passed out into the vestibule. He had hardly done so before 
Gerard approached as if to ask for the passport, and dis¬ 
charged a pistol containing three balls into his stomach, one 
of which passed through and struck the wall beyond. The 
prince staggered and fell into the arms of his master of the 
horse, exclaiming in French, Oh, my God, have mercy on 
my soul! Oh, my God, have mercy on this poor people ! ” 
His sister Catherine, Countess of Schwartzburg, at once asked 
him in German if he commended his soul to Jesus Christ. 
He faintly answered “ Yes ” in the same language, and, though 
he could speak no more, gazed tenderly upon his heart¬ 
broken wife and sister, who bent lovingly over him. Becom¬ 
ing unconscious he was carried from the stairs, on which he 
had been laid for a moment, to a couch in the dining-room, 
where he breathed his last amid the sobs of his family and 
servants.^ 

^ The mark of the fatal bullet on the wall may still be seen in William the 
Silent’s old house in Delft, which is now used as a barrack. The two other 
bullets, the pistols, and the dress of the illustrious victim are preserved in the 
National Museum at the Hague. 


584. 


Capture of Oranges Assassin. 


311 


The assassin, who had carefully arranged his plan of escape, 
ran swiftly through the archway and up the narrow lane to¬ 
wards the city wall at the back of the house. He cleared the 
first steps of the corridor at a bound, but in his haste fell 
over a heap of rubbish near the ramparts. Quickly rising he 
pushed on, and was about mounting the wall when he was 
seized by a page and halberdier, who, with others of the 
prince’s servants, had pursued him from the house. He had 
dropped his loaded pistol, which he probably intended to use 
against his pursuers, as he gave his leap down the corridor. 
On his person were found a piece of pipe and two bladders 
with which he intended to float himself across the moat, as 
he did not know how to swim. A horse stood saddled and 
bridled on the other side to make good his escape. 

Gerard, who had showed some nervousness when seized, 
soon regained composure. One of his captors charged him 
with being a villain, but he denied the charge, and insisted 
that he had only obeyed the command of his master, the 
King of Spain. As he was brought back to the house past 
the gate through which he had taken his fatal departure he 
exclaimed : Ah ! gate, gate, thou hast deceived me ! I see 
plainly that I am doomed to die ! ” The city magistrates, 
who had hastened to the Prinzen Hof after the assassina¬ 
tion, being eager to examine him, Gerard asked for ink and 
paper, promising to tell the whole truth. He then wrote out 
his celebrated confession, in which the details of his scheme 
were faithfully related, with the exception of the agency 
of Parma and D’Assonleville, which he had agreed not 
to reveal, and the omission of the encouragement given by 
the holy fathers of Treves and Toumay. 

The coolness of Gerard astonished the magistrates. In¬ 
stead of expressing regret for the deed, he gloried in it. Like 
David, he said “ he had slain Goliath of Gath.” He declared 
that if the prince had been surrounded by fifty thousand 


312 History of the Netherlands. 

soldierS; or been a thousand leagues away, he would have 
endeavored to kill him. Attempts were made to convince the 
assassin that his victim was not dead, but only wounded; but 
he said he was well satisfied, for the wretch could not survive. 
On being removed to prison Gerard related a plan which he 
had formed for getting access to the prince had his recent 
attempt failed. He persisted in declaring his deed pleasing 



g:i^rard on the rack. 


to God, the king, and all Christian people, and expressed his 
willingness to submit to the dreadful punishment. After 
being terribly scourged and racked, in order to make him 
reveal his accomplices. He confessed his relations with Parma 
and the monks of Treves and Tournay. When put to the 
torture the next day Gerard’s wonderful endurance amazed 
his tormentors. He did not utter a word of complaint, but 



























1584. Balthazar Gerard's Punishment, 313 

frankly answered all questions, and said he would not have 
abandoned his undertaking if he had to die a thousand 
deaths. 

Before proceeding to the trial and condemnation of the 
prisoner, the states of Holland ordered an executioner from 
Utrecht to assist the one in Delft, and each strove to surpass 
the other in torturing the assassin. Though his wretched 
body was wrenched and almost roasted by this cruel rivalry, he 
was so unmoved that the executioners thought him supported 
by witchcraft, and to break the spell they clothed him in the 
shirt of a hospital patient accused of sorcery. This super¬ 
stitious treatment proving useless, Balthazar was asked why he 
was proof against torture. He answered that it was by the 
aid of saints and their prayers. In his intervals of relief 
from the rack he spoke so gently to his tormentors that they 
were astonished, and the bystanders shed tears of pity. 
Some of them declared that he could not be a man. Oth¬ 
ers asked him how long since he had sold himself to the 
devil. He replied that he was not acquainted with the devil. 
He thanked the judges for the food furnished him in prison, 
and promised as a recompense to plead for them in Paradise. 

After all the tortures which he had endured the assassin 
was doomed to a cruel death. He was sentenced to have his 
right hand, as the one that had committed the crime, burnt 
off with a hot iron, and his flesh plucked six times from dif¬ 
ferent parts of his body with red-hot pincers. Then, while 
yet alive, he was to be quartered and disembowelled, and his 
heart torn out and thrown in his face. Finally, his head was 
to be cut off and placed on a pike on the school gate 
behind the Prinzen Hof, and the dissevered parts of his body 
were to be hung up on the walls above the four gates of the 
city. 

On the 14th of July, 1584, this sentence was literally 
executed. Notwithstanding the mutilated condition of his 


3 14 History of tPie Netherlands, 

feet from the torture, Gerard walked firmly to the scaffold, 
which had been erected in front of the Town Hall, and gazed 
unmoved upon the instruments of his dreadful punishment. 
He even smiled in sympathy with the laughter of the crowd 
as the hammer with which one of the executioners was break¬ 
ing the fatal pistol in pieces flew from its handle and struck 
his associate on the ear. When his right hand was nearly 
burned off the assassin raised the stump, as if to say, This 
was the hand that did the deed.” 

During his terrible sufferings Balthazar did not complain 
or change color. Seemingly rapt in prayer he recited peni¬ 
tential psalms, and made signs of the cross upon his forehead 
and towards the spectators. As the executioners were about 
to subject him to fresh torments, a woman in the crowd 
exclaimed pitifully to some of the citizens near her, ‘‘ Why- 
will they inflict such cruelty on this poor fellow? He has 
only killed one man, and they have made him die a thousand 
deaths.” This complaint brought down a storm of abuse on 
the head of the woman, and as she was rudely pushed back 
the crowd behind became agitated, a cry, To arms ! ” was 
heard, and drums were beaten. These sounds alarmed the 
executioners, who were on the point of abandoning their 
work, when the magistrates declared there was no danger, 
and they must do their duty. So the horrible tortures went 
on with calculated slowness. Gerard meanwhile said his 
prayers in a low tone, but not a sigh escaped him. There 
was a movement of his lips till his heart was thrown in his 
face, when death came to his relief. 

Such was the fate of Balthazar Gerard, which in Catholic 
countries favorable to Spain was regarded as a glorious 
martyrdom. His crime was less that of an individual than of 
the age. If any person is responsible for the deed it is not 
Balthazar Gerard, but Philip H. The assassination showed 
the terrible evils of making religious zeal the slave of igno- 


1584- Funeral of William the Silent. 315 

ranee and bigotry. Yet the besotted fanaticism which de¬ 
stroyed William the Silent was matched by the blind fury 
which wreaked its vengeance on his murderer. As intelli¬ 
gent Catholics would not now defend the assassination of 
Orange, so intelligent Protestants would not justify the bar¬ 
barous punishment of Gerard, who indeed would be consid¬ 
ered a subject for a lunatic asylum rather than for the rack 
and the scaffold. 1 

At the time of his death Orange was a little over fifty-one 
years of age, and the post-mortem examination showed that 
his life would probably have been a long one had it not been 
ended by violence. He was above the middle height, with a 
slender but sinewy and well-proportioned figure; a broad, 
massive brow, firm but gentle mouth, clear, tranquil eye, and 
brown hair and beard. He left a widow and twelve children, 
six sons and six daughters. 

The body of the martyred patriot was exposed for nearly a 
month on a bier, and sorrowing crowds knelt and wept beside 
it. On the 3d of August, 1584, the funeral was celebrated 
with princely pomp. Nearly twelve hundred armed burghers 
headed the procession, and were followed by the grief-stricken 
household of the illustrious victim. Twelve high-born gen¬ 
tlemen bore the coffin, and the cords of the pall were held 
by four great nobles. Behind the escutcheons and banners 
representing the principal lordships of the dead hero came 
his riderless war-horse superbly caparisoned, and led by a 

1 Gachard, the highest authority on the subject, rejects the idea that Gerard 
was partly actuated by mercenary motives in the assassination of Orange as 
inconsistent with all that is known of him, his single expression to the con¬ 
trary in his account of his interview with D’Assonleville having been uttered on 
the rack, and thus either extorted by torture or adopted to conceal his real 
purpose. “ Correspondance de Guillaume le Taciturne,” tom. vi. preface, 
pp. cxvi, cxvii. The psychology of the case has been recently illustrated by 
M. Fomeron, “ Histoire de Philippe II.,” ae edition, tom. iii. p. 217. Paris* 
1882. 


3 i6 History of the Netherlands. 

groom. The naked sword of the martyred prince was car¬ 
ried by the Count of Overstein, and his crown by the Baron 
of Cr^ange. The chief mourner was the youthful Maurice of 
Nassau, who walked between Gebhard Truchsess, the Arch¬ 
bishop-Elector of Cologne, and General Count Hohenlohe. 
The train of his mourning mantle was held by Sonsfeld, his 
preceptor, behind whom marched several princes of the 
house of Nassau. The states-general of the United Prov¬ 
inces, the council of state, the states of Holland, the magis¬ 
trates of Delft, and the ministers of religion and captains of 
the guard swelled the long procession, which was followed by 
a multitude of citizens. The remains of the illustrious stadt- 
holder were buried in the new church at Delft, where a costly 
monument was afterwards erected over them. 

William of Orange had contended with vastly inferior re¬ 
sources against the greatest empire of the world. While liv¬ 
ing, a grateful people recognized him as the Father of his 
adopted country, and historians have generally regarded him 
as the founder of Dutch independence. His untiring devo¬ 
tion, heroic self-saccifice, mastery over men, and fertility of 
resource sustained the national cause under the most trying 
circumstances, and thus protected England and Europe from 
the grasp of Spain. Though a greater statesman than general, 
he had the rare power of making military defeats the means of 
securing civil triumphs. His enemies, while acknowledging 
his remarkable abilities, charged him with committing the 
most atrocious crimes to gratify his grasping ambition. But 
history furnishes no proof of these charges, and the private 
letters of Orange prove the depth of his piety and patriotism. 
He scorned the murderous arts which great sovereigns then 
used without reproach, and mercy with him ever tempered 
justice. His practice of religious toleration showed the kind¬ 
ness of his disposition as well as the moderation of his judg¬ 
ment. Visitors to Delft, who saw a very simply dressed man 












































15S4. Character of William of Orange. 319 

going about the streets with uncovered head, chatting with 
mechanics and watermen, quaffing their proffered mugs of 
beer, and settling their family disputes, were surprised to 
learn that this was the “ Silent Prince,” the Taciturn,” 
whose dark and mysterious combinations made him an ob¬ 
ject of dread to the crowned plotters of the Vatican and the 
Escurial. He kept his profound statecraft and his impene¬ 
trable reserve for his subtle foes, and with the people, as with 
his family and friends, he was ever frank and genial. 

The principal defect in the character of Orange was the 
dissimulation which so deeply influenced his political actions. 
His early education in that great school of deception and 
intrigue, the court of the Emperor Charles V., fostered habits 
of duplicity which, while often useful in combating the arts of 
his enemies, betrayed him into measures that injured the 
cause of his country and have sullied his fame. It was his 
dependence upon political artifice that led the prince to 
encourage those desperate ventures of Ryhove and Imbize 
which helped to destroy the union of the Netherlands. It 
was his repute for double-dealing that made it impossible for 
William the Silent to restore confidence to the Walloons, and 
prevent them from resuming allegiance to Spain. Hi's habit¬ 
ual distrust of the motives of political opponents sometimes 
blinded him to their real character, as in the case of Don 
John of Austria, and even of Philip H., and inspired an un¬ 
due confidence in his supposed friends, which was turned 
against him by the Duke of Anjou, Count Renneberg, and 
his brother-in-law. Van den Berg. The unfortunate clerk 
whom Orange bribed to send him copies of Philip’s letters 
suffered a terrible punishment on the discovery of his treason, 
being torn to pieces by four horses three years before the 
prince’s assassination. It is the strongest proof of the pro¬ 
found patriotism and integrity of William the Silent that they 
survived his vicious political practices. These blemishes on 


320 


Histo7y of the Netherlands. 


the character of Orange, for which the usages of his age are 
largely responsible, cannot obscure his nobler characteristics, 
or impair the value of his great services to his country and to 
human freedom, which have given him a high place among 
the benefactors of mankind^ 

1 William the Silent’s profound dissimulation is acknowledged by such 
candid Netherland scholars as Groen van Prinsterer and Gachard. The philo¬ 
sophic Guizot criticises the “ obstinate and skilful pleading ” which “ screens the 
weak side of a good cause and a great man,” in his article in the Edinburgh Re¬ 
view on Motley’s “ Rise of the Dutch Republic,” vol. cv. p. 44. “ Melanges 

Biographiques et Litteraires,” p. 463. Paris, 1880. Prescott remarks that 
the double-dealing of Orange leaves a disagreeable impression in regard to his 
character. “ History of Philip II.,” vol. i. p. 586. Boston, 1858. These 
Protestant judgments show that there is some basis for the views of moderate 
Catholics in regard to Orange, and help to explain the criticisms of Bentivoglio 
and other authors. Both Juste and Forneron regard the prince’s intrigues as 
obstacles to the union of the Netherlands, and as serious defects in his character. 
“ Histoire de la Revolution des Pays-Bas sous Philippe II.,” tom. ii. p. 392. 
Bruxelles, 1855; “Histoire de Philippe II.,” 2® edition, tom. hi. p. 169. 
Paris, 1882. Schiller’s acute analysis of the policy of Orange and of his 
relations with Philip II. gives value to his “ Revolt -of the Netherlands ” 
(“ Abfall der Niederlande ”) which later researches have largely superseded. See 
also ante^ p. 221. William the Silent’s misrepresentations of the designs of 
Don John of Austria, ante., p. 236, which are unknown to general readers of 
Netherland history, are pointed out by the learned editor of the “Archives 
de la Maison d’Orange-Nassau,” tom. v. p. xxxix. See also “ Correspondance 
de Guillaume le Taciturne,” tom. hi. preface, pp. xlviii, Iviii. 


CHAPTER XIX. 


DESPERATE CONDITION OF THE UNITED PROVINCES. 

The news of the assassination of the Father of his Country 
excited the deepest grief and consternation throughout the 
United Provinces. Little children wept in the streets of 
Delft, and the general alarm was increased by the fear that 
the crime was part of a terrible plot against the national life. 
On the very day of the murder the states-general sent a letter 
to Queen Elizabeth of England warning her against a similar 
peril, and urging her as protector of the true word of God 
to continue to aid them against the King of Spain, who was 
bent upon crushing all Protestant potentates. Letters were 
also sent to Henry III. of France and his 'mother, Catherine 
de Medici, the king being entreated to despatch a sufficient 
force to resist the enemy, commanded by a nobleman of 
high rank and ability, to whom faithful service and obedi¬ 
ence were promised. Queen Elizabeth wrote on the 15th 
of September, 1584, a kind response, expressing her es¬ 
teem for the murdered prince and her affection for the 
states-general, and commending to their care his young or¬ 
phan daughters as inheritors of her friendship for their father. 
She concluded by offering to take charge of the three eldest, 
whom she requested should be sent to England before the 
winter. The care of the other three daughters was solicited 
by their titled relatives in France and Germany. 

On hearing decisive news of the death of Orange, the 
Prince of Parma wrote to Philip II. congratulating him that 


21 


322 History of the Netherlands, 

the great enemy of Christianity and the royal authority had 
at last received merited punishment. He pronounced the 
assassin’s act most praiseworthy and heroic. Cardinal Gran- 
velle also highly commended the deed. Anjou,” he wrote 
with chronological emphasis, ‘’died on the loth of June, 



Orange on the loth of July, and if Catherine de Medici 
should die on the loth of August the loss would be small.” 

Several of the assassin’s brothers having hastened to Parma 
to claim in their mother’s name the rewards promised in the 
ban, he wrote to Philip on the 20th of February, 1586, urg¬ 
ing payment as a recompense for the heroism of Gerard, a 




1584. The Assassins Family Ennobled, 323 

consolation for his family, and an example to sovereigns in 
similar circumstances. As Famese, however, knew that the 
king was so short of funds that even the small sum of twenty- 
five thousand crowns was not available for this purpose, he 
suggested that Orange’s confiscated estates of about this 
value should be given to the Gerards to perpetuate the 
memory of Balthazar’s deed. But Philip’s slowness delayed 
the settlement, and it was not till the 20th of July, 1590, six 
years after the assassination, that the patent of nobility and 
three lordships in Franche Comte were conferred upon the 
Burgundian’s family. They were, however, forbidden to 
alienate these estates, the king reserving for himself and his 
successors the right to redeem them on payment of the 
twenty-five thousand crowns in gold. As the family had 
spent about three thousand dollars in settling their claim, 
Philip was graciously pleased to allow them eight hundred. 

By the patent, which was . dated March 4, 1589, the four 
brothers and four sisters of Balthazar Gerard then living were 
ennobled, and in memory of his “ sincerity, magnanimity, and 
constancy,” Philip II. granted them as a coat-of-arms a 
crown supported by lions, holding in their paws the thunder¬ 
bolts of Jupiter. The estates remained in the Gerard family 
till the eldest son of William of Orange returned from Spain, 
where he had been kept for twenty-eight years, with the 
Archduke Albert of Austria, the new governor of the obedient 
provinces. The Gerards were then granted other estates in 
exchange for those restored to the submissive son of William 
the Silent, together with a sum of money, but by the final 
settlement they obtained only eight thousand dollars for the 
twenty-five thousand crowns promised in the ban. There is 
a pleasant story that when Franche Comt^ was united with 
France the governor of the province trampled under foot the 
letters of nobility which the Gerard family had dared to pre¬ 
sent to him. But as the story was first told by a French 


324 History of the Netherlands. 

writer of the last century, and there is no other evidence 
of its truth, it can hardly be considered authentic, although 
it has been adopted by the editor of an early Netherland 
history and by an eminent American historian. 

When Philip heard of the assassination of Orange he 
thoughtfully remarked, Had it only been done two years 
earlier I might have been saved much trouble ; but’t is better 
late than never.” The pious monarch was now plotting the 
death of Queen Elizabeth of England, who, fearing that her 
life and throne would be endangered if the provinces made 
peace with Spain, sought an alliance with France in their 
defence. But that government had lost confidence in her, 
and preferred to treat with the states-general separately. 

Undaunted by the loss of their beloved chief, the states of 
Holland assembled at Delft resolved on the very day of the 
murder to continue the struggle against Philip at any cost. 
They provided liberally for the family of Orange, who had 
impoverished himself for his country, and the states-general 
soon after established a council of state with Maurice of 
Nassau at its head. This young prince, who was only seven¬ 
teen years old, had already inspired hopes of future greatness 
which time was to realize fully. The device that he adopted 
showed his fixed resolve to continue his father’s work in 
battling against Spanish tyranny. It represented the severed 
trunk of an oak from which a vigorous shoot was sprouting, 
with the motto, ‘‘Tandem fit surculus arbor,” —“The twig 
shall at length become a tree.” 

Yet the desperate condition of the United Provinces en¬ 
couraged disloyalty. Parma, availing himself of the depres¬ 
sion caused by the assassination of Orange, was using all his 
resources to secure Flanders and Brabant, the outer bulwark 
of Netherland independence. With his army, which greatly 
outnumbered that of the states, he menaced the five power¬ 
ful cities on the Scheldt, Ghent, Dendermonde, Mechlin. 















'9- 




1584. Seekmg Foreign Aid. 327 

Brussels, and Antwerp, and offered tempting terms of sur¬ 
render to the inhabitants. 

Meanwhile the United Provinces again sought foreign aid. 
Germany, notwithstanding her stake in the struggle for free¬ 
dom which was ere long to plunge her into the memorable 
Thirty Years* War, had now no support for the common 
cause. Her borders had become the scene of desperate 
irregular warfare, incited by Gebhard Truchsess, the Catholic 
Archbishop of Cologne, who, having been excommunicated 
and expelled from his see for marrying the daughter of 
Count Mansfeld, had taken refuge with William of Orange at 
Delft just before his assassination. The archbishop’s forces 
were now battling for his possessions, but the German Lutheran 
princes, who had’ permitted this important convert to their re¬ 
ligion to be driven from the country, would not take up arms 
for his Calvinist supporters in the provinces. The political 
antagonism of the two Protestant sects injured the patriot 
cause. The Catholic emperor, Rudolph, the nephew and 
brother-in-law of Philip II., was too much in fear of a 
Turkish invasion to risk a war with Spain. Thus France and 
England were the only countries from which the struggling 
provinces could hope for substantial aid. Though Anjou’s 
treachery had made an alliance with the French king hateful 
to many patriots, yet his power favored his protectorate. 
Queen Elizabeth had trifled with the provinces in this mat¬ 
ter. She regarded the Netherland Calvinists as rebels against 
their lawful sovereign; and the heir to her throne was that 
bigoted Catholic, Mary, Queen of Scots. 

Prince Maurice vainly appealed to the people not to sacri¬ 
fice the country and the house of Nassau to France. The 
remembrance of his father’s devotion to that nation, and the 
fact that the heir to the French throne was the gallant Prot¬ 
estant leader, Henry of Navarre, outweighed the young 
prince’s influence with the states-general. The Dutch city of 


328 History of the Netherlands^ 

Gouda, which had so vehemently opposed the sovereignty of 
William the Silent, was prominent in resisting subjection to 
the bigoted monarch of France, who, besides being a blood 
relation of Philip II., was the tool of his mother, the crafty 
Catherine de Medici; yet as Flanders and Brabant, now 
menaced by Parma, declared through their deputies that 
only French aid could save them, Holland and Zealand 
withdrew their opposition. Despite the objections of Davi¬ 
son, the English envoy, and the appeals of Liesveldt, the 
Chancellor of Brabant, in favor of submission to Spain, an 
embassy of sixteen great personages with a stately retinue 
embarked with forty vessels of war on the 3d of January, 
1585, to offer the sovereignty to Henry III. 

The weak and effeminate French king received the envoys 
from the provinces with great courtesy, much to the indigna¬ 
tion of Mendoza, the ambassador of Philip II. But though 
they were splendidly entertained, and presented on leaving 
with massive gold chains, their eight months’ mission proved 
a failure. Spanish bribery in the council turned the scale 
against them. The king feared to excite an attack of the 
Guises and Philip H. upon his unsteady throne by heading 
a Protestant league, yet he used the Netherland claims to 
profit by those of his mother, Catherine de Medici, to the 
crown of Portugal. Henry of Navarre was unable to sus¬ 
tain the patriot cause, for his strength was taxed to defend 
himself against the Holy Catholic League, of which the feeble 
king, his cousin, was soon to become the wretched instru¬ 
ment and victim. 

Queen Elizabeth, who- had intrigued to prevent the prov¬ 
inces from being acquired by France, now encouraged them 
to hope for aid from her. She had tried as long as possible 
to avoid a conflict with Spain, which her wisest ministers 
had long regarded as inevitable, but she now felt that the 
protection of the struggling rebels was necessary for the safety 
of England. 


CHAPTER XX. 


THE SIEGE OF ANTWERP. 

Meanwhile the Prince of Parma prepared to master 
the rest of the Southern Netherlands, though Philip’s efforts 
to excite civil war in France deprived him of necessary 
supplies. Although his army in the field had dwindled to 
about twelve thousand men, the prince felt confident that 
their superior discipline and his generalship and diplomacy 
would gain the day. His principal object was to get pos¬ 
session of Antwerp, which controlled the fate of Flanders 
and Brabant. As the great capital was strongly fortified, 
and received supplies from the neighboring cities of Ghent, 
Dendermonde, Mechlin, and Brussels, the daring general 
resolved to cut off this communication, and thus reduce 
Antwerp by starvation. His first step was to erect forts on 
the canals and rivers between the threatened cities, in order 
to lay them open to his arts and arms. 

Parma’s plans for the capture of Antwerp were known to 
the Prince of Orange, who in the summer of 1584 showed 
how to baffle them. He pointed out that Philip’s general 
might build a bridge across the Scheldt to prevent supplies 
from passing up to the city. But by piercing the great Blaw- 
garen dyke light fleets from Zealand could sail across the 
flooded country to the relief of the capital. Although many 
valuable farms would be ruined, the loss would be trifling 
compared with the safety of Antwerp, upon which hung that 


330 


History of the Netherlands. 


of Flanders and Brabant. Soon after giving this wise advice 
William the Silent was assassinated, and the turbulent city was 
left without a head. He had induced his friend, St. Alde- 

gonde,. to take the 
place of chief bur¬ 
gomaster which was 
a difficult post of 
duty in those dan¬ 
gerous times, as he 
had only a single 
vote in the stormy 
council of magis¬ 
trates, whose decrees 
he was obliged to 
execute. There 
were few trustworthy 
troops, the militia 
being disorderly, and 
the stout British 
regiment powerless 
against invasion. 

Philip de Marnix, 
Lord of St. Alde- 
gonde, was not onl) 
a zealous Protestant 
and patriot, but was 
a statesman re- 
nowned throughout 
Europe for his va¬ 
ried talents and ac¬ 
complishments. A 
native of Brussels, 
he had been edu- 
sTREET IN ANTWERP. cated at Geneva un- 











































1585- ‘S’/. Aldeg 07 ides Services. 331 

der the celebrated religious reformers, Calvin and B^za. 
There he became deeply versed in history, theology, and 
law, and also acquired great skill in horsemanship, the use 
of the sword, and even in dancing, which he advocated in a 
grave treatise as peculiarly desirable for the Netherlanders as 
a corrective for their excesses in eating and drinking. A mas¬ 
ter of the ancient and modern languages, — Hebrew, Greek, 
Latin, Spanish, Italian, French, and German, — he was also 
an eloquent orator, a distinguished diplomatist, and a vigor¬ 
ous poet. Early prominent in the patriot cause, St. Alde- 
gonde’ was the author of the “ Compromise of the Nobles,” 
as well as of the stirring national hymn, William of Nassau,” 
which stimulated the patriotism of his contemporaries, and 
still thrills the heart of Holland. No writings were so effec¬ 
tive as his against Alva, and his zealous Calvinism led him to 
launch against the Catholic church, in whose name the Span¬ 
iards committed their atrocities, the terrible invective called 
“ La Ruche Romaine,” or Romish Bee-Hive.” 

While in high command in Holland in 1573 St. Aldegonde 
was captured by the Spaniards, and for three months commend¬ 
ed his soul to God each night as his last on earth, as he knew 
that Alva had twice doomed him to die in prison. In fact, 
the grim duke would have speedily executed the chief coun¬ 
sellor of Orange had not the prince threatened to retaliate 
by bringing Admiral Bossu and other distinguished prisoners 
to the block. During his imprisonment, which lasted nearly 
a year, the saddened statesman, in despair of his country’s 
cause, counselled submission to Spain and the establishment 
of an asylum for the Protestants in foreign countries, in 
order to end the unequal and ruinous conflict. But the 
firmness of William the Silent and the states, and the obsti¬ 
nacy of the king, blocking the negotiations v/hich Marnix 
was released from prison to conduct, he renewed his patriotic 
efforts against Philip when finally discharged. Orange and 


332 History of the Netherlands, 

the states again favored him with the highest marks of confi¬ 
dence. He was intrusted with the most difficult duties. 

It was St. Aldegonde who arranged the prince’s mar¬ 
riage with Charlotte of Bourbon, and headed the deputa¬ 
tion from the states that offered the sovereignty of Holland 
and Zealand to Queen Elizabeth. He was the chief nego¬ 
tiator of the Pacification of Ghent, the famous treaty under 
which patriotic Catholics and Protestants united against 
Spanish tyranny. To him William of Orange confided the 
important task of inciting the states-general to oppose Don 
John of Austria, and to complete those secret negotiations with 
Ryhove, which encouraged that reckless agitator to acts which 
proved so disastrous to the cause of Netherland union. It was 
the eloquence of Marnix which, at the Diet of Worms, in May, 
1578’, inveighed most powerfully against the apathy of Ger¬ 
many in the struggle of the patriotic Netherlanders for the 
rights of the empire as well as for the liberties of Europe. 
St. Aldegonde’s diplomacy was employed by Orange to calm 
the fury of the revolutionists of Ghent, and to prevent the 
secession of the Walloon provinces; but in both cases the 
time had passed for successful effort. 

Though Marnix had periods of depression in which he 
advised the prince to abandon public affairs, he never failed 
to be incited to fresh efforts by the appeals of his patriot 
chief. When meditating the project of conferring the Neth¬ 
erland sovereignty upon the Duke of Anjou, it was upon 
St. Aldegonde and Villiers, the chaplain, his two most 
trusted counsellors, that William the Silent relied to guide his 
judgment. In fact, Marnix was the chief instrument in this 
important negotiation, the result of which so bitterly dis¬ 
appointed his hopes, and justified the opposition of the 
Netherland Calvinists and the illustrious French statesman, 
Duplessis-Mornay, to the tempting project. 

In the most trying moments of his life Orange trusted his 


St, Aldegonde at Antwerp. 


333 


1585 - 


veteran friend and associate. When wounded by Jaureguy 
he wrote to St. Aldegonde to save the assassin’s accomplices 
from being cruelly tortured. Going into political retirement 
after Anjou’s treachery, Mamix found consolation amid his 
shattered fortunes in the pursuits of agriculture, in revis¬ 
ing his celebrated translation of the Psalms of David from 
the original Hebrew into Flemish verse, and in directing the 
education of his only son. But William the Silent could not 
long spare his ablest minister from the public service. On 
leaving Antwerp, after the attacks upon his patriotism by the 
populace in May, 1583, at which Marnix was deeply indig¬ 
nant, Orange selected him to take charge of the turbulent 
city, which was in danger from the plots of Parma. Wil¬ 
liam’s double position, as hereditary burgrave or viscount of 
Antwerp, and Ruward of Brabant, enabled him to control the 
municipal elections, and thus St. Aldegonde was reluctantly 
led to assume a position which needed the powers of a mili¬ 
tary dictator rather than of a statesman and diplomatist. 
Yet Marnix was resolved to do his best to hold the great 
city for the patriot cause. He was now forty-six years old, 
broad in brow as in sympathies ; care and thought had aged 
his sensitive face without dimming his tender brown eyes. 

Though Holland and Zealand had provided liberally for 
the relief of Antwerp, which was their main bulwark of 
defence, great leaders were lacking. Admiral Treslong, who 
had been ordered to provision the city for a year, neglected 
his duty. General Count Hohenlohe, the dashing, dissipated 
German noble who commanded the states’ army, though an 
experienced soldier, was apt to let his daring get the better 
of his judgment. 

St. Aldegonde’s plans for piercing the great Blaw-garen 
dyke, though favored by some of the magistrates of Antwerp, 
were defeated by the influence of the guild of butchers, whose 
cattle grazed on the lowlands, which would be drowned out 


334 


History of ■ the Netherlands, 


by the floods, and who were supported by threatening militia 
colonels. They ridiculed the idea that Parma could construct 
a bridge over the Scheldt in face of the assaults of the patriots, 
or maintain it against the wintry tides and rushing ice-blocks. 
Yet the Spanish commander was steadily carrying out his 
plans. By building a number of forts along the river he had 
cut off communication between the cities of Ghent, Den- 
dermonde, Vilvoorde, Brussels, and Antwerp. Then he cap¬ 
tured Herenthals, an important place for the defence of the 
capital, under the very eyes of the enemy. Old Mondragon 
said when he took the city, “ Now ’t is easy to see that the 
Prince of Orange is dead.” 

The Spaniards next attempted to seize the two forts 
Liefkenshoek and Lillo on opposite sides of the river, nine 
miles below Antwerp. But though the first was easily taken 
by assault, the second was so stoutly defended by the gal¬ 
lant Frenchman, Teligny, that the enemy withdrew at the 
end of three weeks with a loss of two thousand men, more 
than half their force under the command of Mondragon. 

In their ignorance of the laws of trade, the Antwerp magis¬ 
trates checked the importation of grain. They fixed a price 
for the article, and stopped speculation in it, thus limiting the 
profits of the bold Zealanders who risked their lives past 
Parma’s forts and gunboats. This act exposed the city to 
famine. An attempt was then made to drive the enemy from 
their works at Calloo by opening the flood-gates of the 
Scheldt. But the water destroyed the fields and homes of 
the natives without reaching the Spaniards, or allowing a 
passage to the Zealand fleets. When the obstinate butchers 
and militia officers realized their folly they were eager to 
pierce the opposing dykes. But it was too late. Parma had 
gained the Cowenstein from its owner, a nobleman whom 
the guild of butchers had obliged to leave x\ntwerp because 
he favored flooding their fields. This dyke was now held 


335 


1585 . Parma's Great Bridge. 

by the veteran Mondragon, and menaced the safety of the 
capital. 

On the floods let loose by his enemies, Parma transported 
cannon and other materials for his bridge without risking 
their passage in front of Antwerp. St. Aldegonde, while pur¬ 
suing the intruders in his swift barge, the “ Flying Devil,” 
narrowly escaped capture, owing to the desertion of the timid 
Zealand admiral, Jacob Jacobzoon, henceforth known as 
Runaway Jacob.” To guard the channel the patriots now 
erected a block-house called Fort Teligny on the dyke com¬ 
manding it. 

Though most of his council had opposed the undertaking 
as impracticable, Parma had begun to bridge the Scheldt. 
He had adopted a design by Sebastian Baroccio, a famous 
Italian engineer, who superintended the work. The great 
piers of the bridge were built on piles, under protection of 
two forts, St. Philip and St. Mary, on opposite sides of the 
river. These massive palisades, strongly fortified, were eleven 
hundred feet long. Between them, a distance of twelve hun¬ 
dred and forty feet, Parma intended to place a bridge of 
boats, and the fall of Ghent, Sept. 17, 1585, which was 
betrayed by Champagny in revenge for his imprisonment, 
favored the project. Dendermonde and Vilvoorde had sur¬ 
rendered a few weeks before. Nearly half the population of 
Ghent emigrated to Holland and Zealand rather than aban¬ 
don the Protestant faith within two years. The loss of so 
many active and prosperous citizens was a severe blow to the 
declining capital, to which Parma’s otherwise liberal terms 
afforded no relief. 

The materials for the bridge-building operations were trans¬ 
ported from a place called Stecken to the village of Calloo by 
a canal twelve miles long. In honor of its able projector, who 
had labored upon it with pick and spade to cheer his five hun¬ 
dred pioneers, the army called the channel the Canal of Parma. 


336 


History of the Netherlands. 


St. Aldegonde vainly tried to induce the governments of 
Holland and Zealand to send a powerful force to destroy the 
bridge on dark and stormy winter nights. Their efforts failed 
from lack of union and enterprise. While rowing out with a 
few companions to induce the Zealanders to join in a masked 
attack on the Cowenstein dyke, the gallant Teligny, son of 
the “ iron-armed ” La None, was captured and doomed to a 
long imprisonment. The loss of the valiant Frenchman was 
a serious blow to the patriots. 

Meanwhile St. Aldegonde was threatened with serious dan¬ 
gers from the turbulent capital. Some of the richest and 
most influential citizens urged Liesveldt, the Chancellor of 
Brabant, to favor peace with Parma. But the zealous Cal¬ 
vinists and other patriots in Antwerp rallied to the support of 
the burgomaster. The populace rose in their fury, drums 
were beaten, and chains stretched across the streets. After 
punishing the intriguers, and dooming future offenders to 
death, the magistrates offered to make St. Aldegonde dic¬ 
tator. This honor he declined from fear that the triumphant 
Calvinists would commit such excesses as he had opposed in 
Ghent. 

The watchful Parma profited by these disorders to tempt 
the city authorities to submit to Philip II. Fearing an 
assault by the French he tried to conciliate as well as to 
overawe the government. But, distrusting the bigoted king, 
the Protestants of Antwerp relied upon the protection of 
France, which St. Aldegonde thought was their only safe¬ 
guard. And so the building of the bridge went on, though 
it was constantly blocked by Parma’s lack of means , to pay 
his army of needy workmen and his handful of desperate 
soldiers. The king was such a poor provider that his great 
general had to borrow money from private individuals to 
carry out this all-important public undertaking. What made 
his success more aggravating to the patriots was the fact that 


Hohenlohe s Imp7'udence. 


337 


1585- 

a large part of his supplies came from England, which pro¬ 
fessed sympathy with their cause. 

A bold attempt, made by the states of Holland the last of 
January, 1585, for the relief of Antwerp failed from the care¬ 
lessness of Hohenlohe. He had surprised the important 
city of Bois-le-Duc, or “ Duke’s Wood,” about forty miles 
away. While he was letting his troops pillage the houses, 
the Lord of Haultepenne, a noted royalist commander, came 
to the aid of the citizens with about fifty lancers. Hohenlohe, 
seeing the distress of his soldiers, galloped out of the city for 
more. He left no guards at the gates, to take the place of 
the pillagers. As soon as Hohenlohe had departed, a 
wounded old gate-opener, who had been struck down when 
the troops rushed in, crawled out from his hiding-place, and 
with a pocket-knife cut the ropes of the portcullis. The old 
man’s effort was too much for him. He fell back dead, 
but he had saved the city. The fall of the sliding gate pre¬ 
vented the escape of the flying plunderers and the entrance 
of Hohenlohe with reinforcements. Nearly all the invaders 
were killed outright or drowned in tiying to swim across the 
moat. 

Between the two great piers, where the Scheldt, sixty feet 
deep, would not bear pile-driving, was a distance of twelve 
hundred and fifty feet. Bridging this space with boats 
in winter, in face of a desperate foe, was a difficult task. To 
complete it, thirty-two great barges, each sixty-two feet long 
by twelve wide, fastened together by strong ropes and chains, 
were placed lengthwise in couples twenty-two feet apart to 
allow free passage to the turbulent river. Each boat was 
moored stem and stern with cables, which were tightened or 
loosened as the tide rose and fell. Over the barges extended 
a roadway of stout planks and timbers, forming a continua¬ 
tion of the solid bridge. The whole structure, twenty-four 
hundred feet long, presented a frowning front to all assail- 


22 


33 ^ History of the Netherlands. 

ants. Forts St. Mary and St. Philip, on the shore ends of 
the work, each mounted ten powerful guns, and were alive 
with trained soldiers. They were supported by a fleet of 
forty armed vessels. Each of the thirty-two barges was 
manned by four sailors and thirty-two veterans from Parma’s 
army, and being provided with two heavy cannon, protected 
by a breastwork of wicker-baskets filled with earth, called 
gabions, they could oppose formidable resistance to a foe 
advancing from Zealand or Antwerp. 

With a hundred and seventy great guns, and a host of 
sturdy warriors guarding the gigantic structure, Parma felt 
proud of completing a work which friends, and enemies had 
alike pronounced impossible. As a further protection to the 
bridge, two heavy rafts of timbers and spars resting on boats, 
fastened together in groups of three, were anchored a short 
distance above and below it. These massive bulwarks, brist¬ 
ling with an array of projecting iron-pointed poles, guarded 
a part of the piers as well as the floating structure. Thus the 
Scheldt was at last closed on the 25 th of February, 1585, by 
a work which was a masterpiece of the engineering science 
of that day, and far surpassed the famous Rhine bridge of 
Julius Caesar. Fortunately for Parma, the winter was so mild 
that there was little trouble from ice, and the expected land 
assaults from Holland and Zealand were delayed by negotia¬ 
tions for aid from France. 

While writing proudly to Philip of the success of the great 
work, Farnese complained bitterly of the dangers to which he 
was exposed by lack of money to obtain food for his starving 
troops. He still, however, kept up a brave front towards the 
enemy. A spy sent by St. Aldegonde to examine the de¬ 
fences having been caught, the prince, instead of executing 
the intruder, had every feature of the fortifications exhibited to 
him. After being conducted over the works he was brought 
back to the subtle commander, who dismissed him with these 


isSS* Surrender of Brussels, 339 

words: Return to those who sent you here, and report 

everything that you have seen. Tell them too that I am 
resolved to make this bridge my grave or my pathway into 
Antwerp.” 

The completion of the bridge roused the authorities of 
Holland and Zealand, who had wasted in an attack on Zut- 
phen the time which might have saved Antwerp, to attempt 
the destruction of the great barrier. Admiral Treslong was 
again ordered to assail it, but the old beggar of the sea ” 
evaded the duty on the ground that his fleet was not strong 
enough. Being suspected of treachery he was imprisoned, 
and his place was filled by Justine of Nassau, an illegitimate 
son of William the Silent. 

The closing of the Scheldt by the great bridge, and the 
capture of Vilvoorde, cut olf supplies of food from Brussels, 
which was at the mercy of mutinous and starving soldiery. 
It surrendered March 13,1585, the Protestants being allowed 
two years to choose between exile and the adoption of the 
Catholic faith. This was really liberal treatment of the Cal¬ 
vinists, who had, since their seizure of the city goveniment 
eight years before, persecuted the Papists and pillaged their 
churches. 

Fortunately for the patriots, the Spaniards failed in an 
attempt on Ostend, whence the enemy received valuable 
supplies from abroad. Despairing of aid from France, 
the Hollanders and Zealanders now resolved to make a 
grand effort to save Antwerp themselves. Their first step 
was to capture Fort Liefkenshoek, or darling’s corner,” and 
Fort St. Anthony. These gave them the control of the river 
between Antwerp and the bridge. Parma, however, broke 
the force of this blow by suddenly seizing the end of the 
dyke on which the forts stood, and thus protected the bridge 
from being cannonaded. Had St. Aldegonde’s orders been 
obeyed this seizure could have been prevented. 


340 


History of the Netherlarids, 


It was from Antwerp, however, that the most destructive 
assault was to be made upon the frowning barrier. There was 
an Italian mechanician, alchemist, and sorcerer in the city 
named Gianibelli, who, with some vessels reluctantly provided 
by the magistrates, prepared to assault the bridge. The two 
largest craft, which he named the “ Fortune ” and the 

Hope,” were of seventy and eighty tons burden. In the 
hold of each he constructed a stone chamber, which he filled 
with seven thousand pounds of improved gunpowder, and 
covered with a mass of dangerous missiles. One of these in¬ 
fernal machines was to be exploded by a slow-match at a cer¬ 
tain moment, while the other was to be set off by clock¬ 
work striking fire from a flint. Besides these “ hell-burners,” 
as they were called, Gianibelli had thirty-two scows* filled 
with combustibles. They were designed to destroy the raft, 
and divert the attention of the enemy from the more danger¬ 
ous infernal machines. 

On the evening of the 5th of April, 1585, the Prince of 
Parma saw a fleet of fire-ships floating down from Antwerp, 
and at once summoned his troops by warning drum-beats to 
the bridge and nearest forts. He had expected a less fiery 
invasion. The flaming vessels shed a spectral glare on the 
water, the shores, and the great structure looming above 
them, and illumined the faces, banners, and arms of Parma’s 
veterans. It was a spectacle which entranced as well as 
awed the superstitious soldiery. Owing to Admiral Jacob- 
zoon’s. mismanagement the blazing craft came so close to¬ 
gether that the Spaniards had time to recover from their 
alarm before the hell-burners ” arrived. None of the fire¬ 
ships broke through the raft which protected the bridge. The 
first infernal machine exploded inside the outer barrier, killing 
a few Spanish soldiers; the second was swept by the current 
against one of the piers. 

While Parma was watching the examination of the myste- 



FIRE-SHIP. 




















































1585 . Explosion of the Hell-BurnerT 343 

rious craft by his boarding party, he was induced by the 
appeals of a young officer to leave his perilous position on 
the bridge. He had scarcely reached Fort St. Mary when 
a terrific explosion was heard. The clock-work in the 

Hope ” had fired the powder in that floating volcano. The 
vessel with all on board was blown into the air, the block¬ 
house against which it had struck was destroyed, and a large 
portion of the bridge shattered, the troops occupying it 
being swept away. The tremendous convulsion shook the 
earth, and forced the waters of the river far beyond its banks. 
A lurid glare illumined the scene of desolation, but was 
instantly followed by sulphurous clouds of smoke, which 
obscured everything from view. The wails of the wounded 
and dying victims of the explosion added to the horrors of 
the catastrophe. Great war-ships were shattered and sunk, 
houses overthrown, and men and animals lifted into the air 
miles away. A storm of ploughshares, tombstones, and can¬ 
non-balls swept over the surrounding country, bearing with it 
.the mangled remains of human beings. Huge blocks of 
granite, belched forth by the floating volcano, were buried 
deep in the earth at the distance of a league. Nearly a 
thousand soldiers were in an instant hurled into eternity. 

Among the officers killed was the celebrated Malcontent 
leader, the Marquis of Roubaix. He was standing on the 
bridge when the ‘‘ Hope ” struck, and laughed loudly at the 
supposed failure of the enterprise. He had then directed 
the examination of the ‘‘ hell-burner,” which was to prove so 
fatal to him. His body was found doubled round an iron cable 
near the centre of the floating roadway. The Lord of Billy, 
an eminent Portuguese officer, was another victim. Parma 
himself had a narrow escape. He was struck senseless by 
a piece of timber which came whirling into Fort St. Mary, 
while his page, who was carrying his helmet just behind him, 
was killed by the concussion of the air. An Italian captain 


344 


History of the Netherlands. 


wearing a complete suit of mail was carried by the whirl¬ 
wind far above the ground, and was then precipitated into 
the river. He succeeded in taking off his steel helmet and 
breastplate, and swam ashore, piously attributing his escape 
to the prayers of the Virgin Mary. The Viscount of Brussels 
was whirled out of a boat on the Flemish side of the river, 
and came down uninjured into another boat in the middle ot 
the stream. Another officer was wafted like a feather into the 
air from the Calloo end of the bridge across the river 
without any injury but a bruised shoulder. He afterward 
said that he felt during his aerial flight as if he had been 
fired out of a cannon. 

Unfortunately for Antwerp, its authorities and the Holland 
and Zealand fleet at Lillo did not know of the damage done 
to the bridge till Parma had repaired it. The boatmen sent 
out by Admiral Jacobzoon feared to approach the scene of 
the explosion, and thus the rocket which was to have an¬ 
nounced its success was not set off. Meanwhile the inhabi¬ 
tants of the besieged city had heard the tremendous crash, 
and were joyously expecting the fiery signal of relief. St. 
Aldegonde and Gianibelli watched by the river bank through 
the darkness for the flaming messenger. The burgomaster 
was ready at daybreak to bear down on the bridge had any 
movement of the combined fleet been apparent. 

Parma had set about repairing the wreck as soon as he 
recovered his senses. The terrible disaster had cost him 
many valuable lives, among them that of his most highly prized 
officer, the gallant Marquis of Roubaix; and the work of 
months was undone by the blow which laid open the Spanish 
defences to the enemy. Yet the skilful general soon made the 
shattered bridge appear so strong that it deceived the ene¬ 
mies’ spies and thus prevented an assault. 

It was three days after the explosion before the result was 
known in Antwerp. Meantime the fury of the populace 


1585- Seizure of the Cowenstein Dyke. 345 

burst against Gianibelli. He was even accused of having 
betrayed the city, and to save his life was obliged to remain 
in concealment. But when a messenger sent by Hohenlohe 
swam under the bridge and brought back the news of the 
destruction caused by the hell-burners,” the fickle multitude 
greeted the mechanician as a benefactor. The magistrates 
now supplied him with the vessels he wanted, but, though these 
broke through the bridge, the Zealand fleet was prevented by 
contrary winds from taking advantage of the blow. To guard 
against another serious disaster to his floating bulwark, Parma 
contrived to open it at will and give a passage to the dreaded 
fire-ships. Yet the prince was still haunted by fear of the 
explosive machines, which he and his followers regarded 
as the invention of the devil. He vainly implored Philip 
to reinforce his weakened army. 

Abandoning attempts against the bridge, the patriots now 
sought to force a passage to Antwerp through the Cowenstein 
dyke. This great barrier was three miles long, protected by 
palisades, and strongly fortified. Hohenlohe, with a small 
force from Fort Lillo, had captured a part of the embankment 
on the 7th of May, 1585, by surprising the sentinels while 
asleep, but was repulsed with great slaughter from lack of 
expected aid from the city. He had been misled by wrong 
signals. But the crowning assault was soon to take place. 

A fleet of two hundred vessels from Antwerp and Zealand 
arrived off the Cowenstein dyke early Sunday morning. May 
26, 1585. Maurice of Nassau, Reinier Kant, Advocate of 
Holland, and many members of the states-general were with 
the Zealanders, who had been lighted on their way by blazing 
fire-ships. Though the Spaniards fiercely contested their 
landing, three thousand bold invaders seized the central part 
of the dyke and dug a passage across the great barrier. A 
Zealand vessel floated through with relief for the capital, and 
St. Aldegonde and Hohenlohe, who, with Justine of Nassau, 


346 


History of the Netherlands. 


commanded the combined expedition, departed in the barge 
to inspirit the besieged and obtain sacks and transports for 
provisions. It was a fatal mistake. 

The enemy soon renewed the conflict, and, being cheered 
by the arrival of Parma from the bridge, fought with great 
desperation under Mansfeld and Mondragon. To overcome 
the fierce resistance of the English and Scotch troops, the 
prince himself led the attack, marching breast-high through 
the water. After being repulsed four times, his veterans were 
cheered by a strange spectacle. One of their old com¬ 
manders who had been killed several months before, was seen 
leading his regiment as in life. Such was the inspiring effect 
of this seeming miracle that the Spaniards and Italians carried 
the intrenchment at a single desperate charge. Then the 
Zealand fleet was driven into deep water by the hot fire from 
the batteries. Seeing their last refuge disappear, the Hol¬ 
landers and Zealanders, pressed by their fierce foes, dashed 
into the waves. Soon the Antwerpers, and the Scotch and 
English troops who had held grimly to the dyke, were forced 
to follow. The victcfrs pursued the fugitives with swords in 
their teeth to cut off the retreat to the vessels, many of which 
were captured. Two thousand men were slain or drowned 
in this fatal defeat, which might have been prevented had the 
states’ commanders remained on the dyke.^ Parma used 
the dead bodies of the patriots to help fill up the gaps. 

Meanwhile Hohenlohe and St. Aldegonde had been re¬ 
ceived with great rejoicings in Antwerp. Cannon roared, 
bells rang, and bonfires blazed. The Calvinists threatened 


1 St. Aldegonde was less blamable than Hohenlohe for leaving the Cowenstein, 
as the Antwerp magistrates had forbidden him to expose himself upon the dyke, 
where he had fought with great bravery. The Dutch troops did not recognize 
his authority; and, having left his own forces in a strong position, he claimed 
that it was his duty to provide for their safety by visiting the capital. See 
Juste, “ Vie de Mamix de St. Aldegonde,” pp. 144, 145. Bruxelles, 1858. 


1585 - SL Aldegonde s Peril. 347 

the Catholics with all sorts of punishments. At a great ban¬ 
quet in the town-house to the conquerors, the news of the 
terrible defeat on the Cowenstein startled the revellers. As 
some of the wounded and dying victims of the disaster were 
brought in, Hohenlohe fled from the ghastly scene, but the 
people hooted him as he hastened to a safe hiding-place. 

Not till famine threatened the capital did St. Aldegonde 
yield to the appeals of the magistrates to negotiate for its 
surrender. There was no longer any hope of resisting the 
enemy. By July their foragers had advanced to the walls of 
Antwerp, destroying the grain in the fields and making it 
dangerous for any one to venture outside the gates. The fate 
of the city seemed foreshadowed by that of a costly floating 
castle which had long been expected to raise the siege. The 
clumsy craft, which had four masts and three rudders, proved 
a complete failure. She was called the End of the War,” 
but her speedy destruction by the Spaniards made the nick¬ 
names ‘‘ Antwerp Folly ” and “ Money Lost ” seem much 
more appropriate. 

The great capital was soon convulsed with tumults, which 
the intrepid burgomaster risked his life to quell. With angry 
mobs crying bread or peace, threatened conflicts between 
Calvinists and Catholics, intrigues of the foreign merchants, 
and fierce contentions in the city council, St. Aldegonde was 
in desperate straits. In despair of Netherland independence 
and anxious to spare the provinces further suffering, he 
favored their submission to Philip provided freedom of wor¬ 
ship could be secured. But though venturing into the very 
camp of Parma he could not obtain religious toleration even 
for Antwerp. Yet he prophetically warned the prince that 
the proscription of Protestantism would depopulate and ruin 
the great capital. The city was now tottering to its fall after 
a thirteen months’ siege. Hope of aid from France and 
England was gone. The United Provinces were not only 


348 


History of the Netherlmids, 


powerless to relieve Antwerp but were in danger of yielding 
to Spain themselves. 

St. Aldegonde naturally distrusted Queen Elizabeth’s 
promises. He declared it folly to expect aid from a woman, 
and especially from the most inconstant woman in the world. 
He wrote to Walsingham that he had done his best, yielding 
only to prevent the unfortunate city from being again exposed 
to sack and butchery. When he finally learned that, by a 
special agreement with the states on the 2d of August, English 
troops would soon succor the besieged capital, it was too late. 
The surrender of Antwerp had been agreed to by the Broad 
Council two days before the news arrived, the threats of 
the populace hastening their decision. 

By the treaty of the 17th- of August, 1585, it was settled 
that a general pardon should be granted, the Catholic religion 
and the property of the priests and monks restored, and a ran¬ 
som of two hundred thousand dollars exacted from the city. 
Heretics were allowed four years in which to leave with their 
property or adopt the Catholic faith. St. Aldegonde called 
this concession the four years’ neutrality. A small garrison 
of Walloons and Germans was to be introduced under prom¬ 
ise that it should be removed when Holland and Zealand 
should resume allegiance to the king. The contemporary 
Protestant historian. Van Meteren, considered the treaty very 
favorable to the inhabitants and especially to those devoted 
to the Reformed religion and the patriot cause. Parma’s 
liberality was due to ignorance of the starving condition of 
the capital, which St. Aldegonde had skilfully concealed from 
him, and his fear that the forces of England and Holland, with 
new hell-burners,” would soon come to its relief. He 
wished also to preserve the prosperity of the city and to win 
over the rest of the rebellious Netherlands. His letters to 
the king, however, showed that he expected to gain complete 
control of Antwerp and retain it by means of a large garrison 
and the rebuilding of the great citadel. 


1585. Parma s Triumph at A^itwerp, 349 

When Parma made his triumphant entrance into the splen¬ 
did city on the 30th of August, 1585, he found it deserted by 
most of the Protestants, who comprised the great merchants, 
skilful manufacturers, and industrious artisans. They could 
not live under a despotism which, in shackling religious 
freedom, fettered mercantile and industrial activity. The 
loss of these thriving citizens was a great blow to the fallen 
capital, which now saw its prosperity transferred to Amsterdam, 
and in a still more marked degree to London, whose commer¬ 
cial supremacy dates from the fall of Antwerp. A third of 
the merchants and manufacturers of the Belgian capital 
swelled the population of the British metropolis. Cer¬ 
tainly,” wrote Parma to the king, the city is most forlorn 
and poverty-stricken, the heretics having all left it.” The 
banished order of Jesuits was restored, and the education of 
the young limited to them. 

Three days of festivity greeted the conqueror, who was ac¬ 
companied by the Duke of Aerschot, the Prince of Chimay, 
Count Philip Egmont, and other nobles who had deserted 
their country’s cause in the hour of trial. The joyous wel¬ 
come given to the victor, who was presented with two keys of 
the city, one of iron and the other of gold, by a young and 
beautiful maiden representing the nymph Antwerpia, was a 
melancholy exhibition of mistaken loyalty. When Parma, 
instead of restoring the keys to the burgomasters, hung 
them about his neck beside the collar of the Golden Fleece, 
he completed the picture of subjection to Spain which was 
the prelude to a long period of foreign domination that patri¬ 
otic Belgians have never ceased to lament. 

The most singular feature of the festivities was the transfor¬ 
mation of the great bridge from a gloomy fortress into a gay 
garden, decked with trees and flowering plants, and adorned 
with triumphal arches. The Spanish and Italian soldiers, clad 
in leafy and floral garments, masqueraded as woodland deities 


350 History of the Netherlands. 

on the structure, where their officers served them with choice 
viands and poured the rich wine of the banquet into their 
shining goblets. A few days afterward, the famous barrier 
which had witnessed such extremes of suffering and enjoy¬ 
ment was broken up, and the river was again open for 
peaceful navigation. But the commerce which had given 
prosperity to Antwerp did not return. It could not live 
under Philip’s despotism. 

So overjoyed was the king by the news of the capitulation, 
that he jumped out of bed after reading the despatches, and, 
rushing to the door of his daughter’s chamber, cried through 
the key-hole, “ Antwerp is ours ! ” This was an unusual out¬ 
burst for the impassive monarch, who had heard without emo¬ 
tion of the victories of St. Quentin and Lepanto, and had 
only been moved to similar delight by the Massacre of St. 
Bartholomew. 

Alarmed by the fall of Antwerp, the people of Holland and 
Zealand credited the complaints of refugees from the capital 
against St. Aldegonde. His efforts for peace and eulogies of 
Parma were declared traitorous, and as he had opposed 
English influence in the provinces, this too was turned against 
him. He was even confined to his house in Zealand, where 
he had boldly gone to confront his accusers, but, as the 
states-general refused to sanction this indignity, he was 
soon released. Then such tried friends of the patriot cause 
as La Noue, Walsingham, and Duplessis-Mornay vindicated 
his integrity. After he had been four years in retirement 
the national authorities sought to atone for their injustice to 
St. Aldegonde. But though his fidelity was acknowledged 
and he was employed on various missions abroad, there was 
henceforth no great political career to divert him from theo¬ 
logical and literary pursuits. He was intrusted by the states- 
general with the important work of translating the Bible into 
Flemish, and became connected with the University of Leyden, 


Death of St. Aldegonde, 


351 


1585- 

upon which, Grotius said, his studies shed extraordinary lustre. 
But the public duties confided to him by Maurice of Nassau, 
and embittered religious controversies, prevented St. Alde- 
gonde from completing more than the book of Genesis. 

The veteran statesman, scholar, soldier, and patriot died 
at Leyden on the 15th of December, 1598, at the age of 
sixty. His services in the cause of Netherland freedom, 
crowned by the noble defence of Antwerp, are his chief title 
to remembrance. The philosophic Bayle gives St. Aldegonde 
a high place among the illustrious men of the sixteenth cen¬ 
tury. Though he lacked the commanding genius and iron 
will of William the Silent, he had a greater variety of talents, 
and his ardent patriotism and diplomatic skill were invaluable 
to the national cause. The death of his beloved chief and 
the triumphs of Parma led St. Aldegonde to despair of 
Netherland independence, yet even such a statesman as 
John of Barneveld took office as Advocate of Holland, fear¬ 
ing that this service might be ended by the reunion of the 
provinces with Spain. He could not, like Orange, rise to 
the heights of religious toleration, but while his rigid Calvinism 
made him regard the members of other Protestant sects as 
meriting the punishment of death, he gloried in protecting 
oppressed Catholics and steadfastly opposed religious perse¬ 
cution when it threatened the disunion of the Netherlands.^ 
The name of St. Aldegonde is honorably associated with that 
of William the Silent, who took no important step without 
consulting him. 

1 The learned biographer of St. Aldegonde calls the famous Pacification 
of Ghent “ the monument of toleration upon which the author of the ‘ Rom¬ 
ish Bee-hive ’ and the ‘ Picture of the Differences of Religion ’ inscribed his 
name, in the firm hope of having laid an indestructible foundation for the polit¬ 
ical and religious liberty of his country.” His intolerance was caused by the 
necessity of increasing the power of the Calvinists where they were weak and of 
restraining it where their fanaticism endangered the national cause. Juste, 
“Vie de Marnix de St. Aldegonde,” pp. 30, 63. Bruxelles, 1858. 


CHAPTER XXL 


LEICESTER’S MISRULE. 

Having placed Antwerp in charge of Catholic magistrates, 
Parma made Champagny, the defender of the city during the 
Spanish Fury, governor. The prince was thus enabled to 
rebuild the great citadel. After using Champagny for this 
purpose he removed him, and gave the command to Mon- 
dragon, in whom he had more confidence. This made the 
old opponent of the Spaniards very bitter against Parma. 

Fearing that the provinces would make peace with Philip 
II. and leave England at his mercy. Queen Elizabeth re¬ 
solved to aid them. Had it not been for her closeness in 
money matters, Antw.erp would have been saved. The seven 
thousand troops which she sent to its relief were kept back 
till the states promised the seaports of Sluys and Ostend as 
security for her expenses. This delay was increased by a letter 
from her agent in Zealand, declaring that the attack by the 
patriots on the Cowenstein dyke was about to raise the siege 
of the capital. So eager were the states for Queen Eliza¬ 
beth’s aid that they sent a special mission to offer her the 
sovereignty of the country. Despite their sufferings under a 
king, they longed for the fostering care of a monarch able to 
protect them from the might of Philip II. 

Among the commissioners was John Van der Does, the 
defender of Leyden ; but the leader was a patriot destined to 
the highest honors and a melancholy end. This was John of 
Olden-Barneveld, then thirty-seven years of age. He was of 



ELIZABETH ADDRESSING HER SOLDIERS. 
































































John of Baimeveld. 


355 


1585. 

noble family, and by his mother’s side belonged to one of the 
oldest houses of Zealand. After pursuing his studies at the 
universities of Louvain, Bruges, and Heidelberg, he became 
distinguished as a lawyer and statesman. At twenty-nine he 
was made Chief Pensionary of Rotterdam. A supporter of 
William the Silent, he had served as a volunteer in the des¬ 
perate attempt to relieve Haarlem, and stood with the prince 
when the dykes were cut, which let out the floods to the 
relief of Leyden. His personal appearance was impressive, 
his stiff ruff, and official robes of velvet and sable, setting off 
his tall and stately figure and his massive head. Rugged 
strength showed in his shaggy brow, steel-blue eyes, and firm 
mouth and chin, while his full brown beard rounded his 
square face. He looked like a man fitted for the stormy 
scenes through which he was to guide his struggling country. 
More than most of his associates, he favored religious tol¬ 
eration, and he had the boldness to claim for Catholics in 
Holland, where they were detested, respect for their honest 
beliefs. 

Queen Elizabeth received the envoys cordially, but refused 
to accept the proffered sovereignty, which would involve her 
in new difficulties. So, after warning Parma of the danger of 
oppressing the provinces, she at last agreed, early in Novem¬ 
ber, 1585, to aid them with six thousand soldiers, one sixth 
cavalry, on condition that she should hold Flushing, Brill, and 
Rammekens till her advances were repaid. 

There was an Englishman who went out to the Nether¬ 
lands before the main body of troops, who has a far purer 
fame than that of the commander-in-chief. This was the 
accomplished scholar, poet, and gentleman, the flower of 
chivalry, Sir Philip Sidney. Yet the jealousy of court favorites 
had prev.ented Elizabeth from recognizing his merits, and it 
was only after much difficulty that he was appointed to the 
important post of Governor of Flushing, with the rank of 


35 ^ History of the Netherlands. 

general-of-horse. He was now in his thirty-second year, 
with a beautiful face, blue eyes, fair complexion, and wealth 
of gold-brown hair. His sympathy with the struggling 
provinces increased, his fitness for the dangerous enterprise 
in which he was to win undying glory at the sacrifice of his 
life. It was the uncle of this all-accomplished gentleman 
who commanded the English expedition to the provinces. 
This was the celebrated Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, the 
queen’s favorite and lover. Yet his reputation was tarnished, 
and his talents were showy rather than solid. Though his 
beauty, which first won Elizabeth’s heart, was gone, the 
stately earl still retained a passion for gorgeous dress which 
astonished the plain Hollanders. Red-faced and bald, with 
his curly beard white as snow, he paraded in satin, velvet, 
and feathers, and wore jewels in his ears, like the youngest 
of court dandies. 

Leicester’s reception in the United Provinces, which he 
reached Dec. 19, 1585, was a series of gay festivities. Rich 
banquets, quaint classic and Biblical spectacles, ingenious fire¬ 
works, and ponderous Latin orations and odes greeted him. 
But he soon got into serious difficulties. At the urgent entreaty 
of the states, now sadly in need of a head, he had accepted the 
office of governor-general, against the queen’s express orders, 
and was installed with great pomp at the Hague, on the 4th 
of February, 1586. Elizabeth vented her wrath on the 
states-general as well as on Leicester for this disobedience. 
She wished to leave the door open for peace with Spain, but 
when the states learned her secret negotiations with the 
agents of Champagny, they thought she meant to betray 
them to their cruel enemy. Leicester wrote an imploring, 
lover-like letter to the queen, which restored her ‘‘ sweet 
Robin,” as the coquettish maiden of fifty-three called him, 
to her favor, and he was permitted to retain the governor- 
generalship. The states, however, had become too dis- 


1586. Martin Schenk, the Freebooter. 357 

trustful of the sovereign who had left her troops and their 
commander in distress, to yield their authority to her pom¬ 
pous representative. 

Meanwhile Parma complained bitterly to Philip of the des¬ 
perate condition of his soldiers, who were mutinous and starv¬ 
ing in the obedient provinces which the royal policy had 
ruined. In order to gain time, the subtle Alexander deceived 
Queen Elizabeth by negotiations for peace. In consequence 
of these intrigues, the queen neglected to send troops to aid 
Leicester in the spring and summer of 1586, when they and 
the Netherlanders could have crushed the feeble forces of the 
Spaniards. This, too, was at the very time that Parma was 
alarmed by the successes of the bold English sea-king, Drake, 
who had destroyed the American possessions from which 
Philip II. drew the means for his European enterprises. The 
shrewd Burleigh, the queen’s Lord Treasurer, declared that 
the fearless corsair was “ a fearful man to the King of Spain.” 

In the spring of 1586 Parma was pushing his way along 
the great rivers of the Netherlands and into the electorate 
of Cologne, where the unfortunate Gebhard Truchsess was 
trying to sustain himself by the aid of the English and the 
states. He was supported also by a celebrated freebooter 
named Martin Schenk, who, after serving both Orange and 
Parma, had sold his sword and his robber-castle to the pa¬ 
triots, in disgust at Spanish neglect. This daring and most 
successful marauder, who had twice defeated Hohenlohe, 
was of noble family and had become rich by plundering his 
native province of Gelderland. He was constantly intoxi¬ 
cated, yet, strange to say, some of his most skilful enterprises 
were planned while in this state, though it made him a hard 
master for his faithful band of desperadoes, whom he scourged 
and killed at his pleasure. In his savage moods he forced 
several of them to jump off the top of church steeples. 

While Schenk was ravaging the electorate of Cologne early 


358 History of the Netherlands. 

in 1586, the states of Friesland were founding the university 
of Franeker, where the higher education was brought within 
reach of the poorer classes. This institution, like the more 
famous one at Leyden, showed that the struggling Nether- 
landers valued learning as well as liberty. 

Leicester was so overjoyed at the success of Hohenlohe 
and Sir John Norris, the queen’s ablest general, in relieving 
the besieged city of Grave in Brabant, in face of Parma’s 
veterans, that he boastfully declared he could force the prince 
out of the country. After triumphal celebrations in various 
cities, the earl was enraged to hear of Parma’s capture, on 
the 7th of June, of the very place which his forces had lately 
provisioned. Leicester court-martialled and hanged Count 
Hemart, the young and inexperienced commander of Grave, 
who had weakly surrendered the great fortress. Being criti¬ 
cised for executing a Netherland officer, the earl wrote to 
Queen Elizabeth that he thought some members of the states- 
general deserved the same fate. 

As Parma’s successes made Leicester despair of English 
rule in the provinces, he encouraged his sovereign’s desire to 
secure some of the principal places in North Holland as 
security for her expenses, while advising her to profess de¬ 
votion to the patriot cause. The earl had personal as w ^ll 
as public reasons for anxiety. He had been obliged to pawn 
his own valuables to pay his ragged and starving troops, who 
were cheated out of a third of their scanty wages by Norris, 
the paymaster of the army, uncle of the gallant Sir John. So 
Leicester, who had not the means to check Parma’s advance, 
even if he had possessed the ability, was obliged to seek aid 
from the states, who distrusted both him and the queen. 

A gleam of sunshine brightened the gloomy prospects of 
the allies at the very time that Parma was gaining victories 
on the Rhine. Maurice of Nassau, the youthful son of 
William the Silent, aided by Sir Philip Sidney, surprised and 



BATTLE OF ZUTPHEN. 



























; ;■ ‘ 




1586. Death of Cardinal Granvelle. 361 

captured the important city of Axel. The latter’s advance¬ 
ment had been hindered by that jealousy of Leicester which 
had lately made the states confer upon Maurice the higher 
rank of prince and the position of stadtholder and Captain- 
general of Holland and Zealand. Sidney had also lost favor 
with Queen Elizabeth by his complaints of her stinginess 
towards her troops and the dishonesty of her paymaster. His 
desire for honorable service in the field was soon to be 
gratified, but at a fearful cost. 

While Leicester was attempting to retrieve his military for¬ 
tunes the revolted provinces were relieved of a once formidable 
opponent. On the 21st of September, 1586, Cardinal Gran¬ 
velle died at Madrid at the age of seventy. Though averse to 
placing the local government of the Netherlands in the hands 
of Spaniards, his love of power, distrust of the nobility, and 
contempt for the people, led him to aid Philip against their lib¬ 
erties. He had advised the re-enactment of the persecuting 
edicts of Charles V., and, though not originally favoring the 
new bishoprics, he became a most devoted supporter of those 
encroachments on the rights of the Catholic clergy as well as 
of the people of the provinces. Yet the crafty prelate de¬ 
plored the king’s temporizing policy, and recognized the evils 
of the cruel system which he had himself fostered. His 
greed made him appropriate the rich benefices of the church; 
and his grasping ambition, by embroiling him with the nobles, 
compelled his recall from the Netherlands. 

The all-accomplished cardinal found solace, in retire¬ 
ment, in the liberal patronage of literature and science and 
in the cultivation of the elegant tastes which adorned his 
palaces with rare and curious treasures. It is a reproach to 
Granvelle that he left his brother Champagny to pine in 
extreme poverty, and urged the assassination of Orange. 
The cardinal was doubtless sincere in his original professions 
of attachment to the Netherlands, as well as in his zeal for 


362 History of the Netherlands. 

the Catholic church ; but his political adroitness could not pro¬ 
tect him from the consequences of his time-serving policy. He 
learned too late the impossibility of controlling the besotted 
Philip; but though he could assume philosophy in luxurious 
retirement, he was too cold and shrewd an observer not to 
realize the failure of his hopes, even while still influential in 
the king’s counsels. The famous “ Papiers d’Etat ” of Gran- 
velle are a rich storehouse of information for the historian 
of the sixteenth century. 

Having taken Doesburg, Leicester laid siege to the ancient 
and wealthy city of Zutphen, or South Fen, situated on the 
Yssel, a branch of the Rhine. As Parma himself had come 
to the relief of the city, there was certain to be a desperate 
struggle. He had sent forward a supply of provisions for a 
three months’ siege, under an escort of twenty-five hundred 
infantry and six hundred cavalry. These troops, Spanish, 
Italian, and Albanian, were commanded by brilliant officers. 

It was Leicester’s object to cut off their supplies. Unfor¬ 
tunately, he had been led to believe that in close combat 
Englishmen were more, than a match for the enemy. In 
their heavy armor the gallant troopers of England could, it 
was said, easily bear down the light horsemen of Italy and 
Spain. The earl had prepared an ambuscade of some five 
hundred soldiers, under command of Sir John Norris, to cap¬ 
ture Parma’s provision train. This was before daybreak, Oct.. 
2, 1586. The morning being foggy, the sound of wheels was 
the only warning of its approach, no scouts having been sent 
out. Leicester’s main force was far away. Suddenly a party 
of horsemen rode up in full view of the ambushed band. 
Through the lifting fog the startled Englishmen saw that the 
Spanish wagons were flanked by a host of pikemen and mus¬ 
keteers, headed by a troop of superb cavalry. Against such a 
body of veterans, the best soldiers in Europe, the little force 
of Norris and the twenty noble and knightly volunteers, the 





THY NECESSITY IS GREATER THAN MINE, 


363 









1586. 


The Battle of Ziitphen* 


365 


flower of English chivalry, who had hastily joined them with 
their thirty esquires, seemed powerless. 

Nothing daunted, the gallant Willoughby, Essex, Audley, 
Stanley, Pelham, Russell, Sidney, and the rest resolved to 
charge the enemy. With chivalrous patriotism. Black Norris, 
so called from his dark complexion, urged Sir William Stanley, 
with whom he had lately quarrelled, to be his friend for that 
day, that they might die side by side, if need be, in the queen’s 
cause. Stanley met this offer in the same manly spirit, vow¬ 
ing to be faithful to his knightly associate in life and in death 
in the service of their sovereign. 

While these noble pledges were passing, the young Earl of 
Essex, general of the horse, shouted to his little band, — 
Follow me, good fellows, for the honor of England and of 
England’s queen ! ” 

The heroic charge of the five hundred, like that of the 
more famous six hundred at Balaklava, reflected glory on 
the English name. Their battle-axes and lances did fearful 
execution, and the prowess of Willoughby, Russell, and 
Stanley amazed the veterans of Parma. The loss of the Eng¬ 
lish was trifling compared with that of the Spaniards, who 
mourned the death of their famous cavalry commander. 
Count Hannibal Gonzaga. But the world remembers the 
fate of Sir Philip Sidney, and not Parma’s high officers, whose 
cloaks glittered with gold and silver embroidery. 

That gallant knight, who had chivalrously lent his thigh- 
plates to the veteran Pelham, rode twice through the enemy’s 
ranks. His horse having been killed under him, he mounted 
another and continued the assault. As he was returning from 
his third charge, a musket ball struck his unprotected thigh. 
Unable to continue the contest, he rode back toward the 
camp. The agony' which he endured from his shattered leg 
was intense. To allay his feverish thirst, his attendants 
brought him a bottle of water, which he was about raising to 


366 History of the Netherlands. 

his lips when he saw a wounded English soldier looking 
longingly at it. Sir Philip at once gave the poor fellow the 
flask, exclaiming, “ Thy necessity is yet greater than mine.” 

In his sufferings Sidney cheered his knightly friends, who, 
while glorying in his courage, were lamenting his fate, with 
consoling and patriotic words. He was carried to Arnheim, 
where Hohenlohe, though himself desperately wounded, sent 
his own surgeon to take care of him. But the wound would 
not heal, and the gallant Sidney met death as manfully as he 
had lived. His last hours were spent in conversation on the 
immortality of the soul, Plato, the Bible, and the vanity of 
the world. He had composed a peculiar song during his 
illness, called La Cuisse Rompue,” — “ the broken thigh,” 
and while his life was ebbing he enjoyed hearing it sung. 
Thus, amid the harmonies of religion, philosophy, and music, 
and the tender farewells of friends, the gallant soldier and 
gentleman passed serenely away. 

The battle of Zutphen, which has been immortalized by 
the death of Sidney, was a waste of splendid material by 
Leicester. His heroes . who broke through the Spanish 
cavalry were too few to crush their infantry, whose bristling • 
muskets guarded the wagon-loads of provisions safely into 
the town. Had the earl brought up the main body of his 
troops the result might have been different, but as it was, 
this conflict of five hundred men with three thousand was a 
costly way of proving that the Spaniards were not invincible. 

Although the city of Zutphen remained in the possession 
of the Spaniards, the great fortress fell into the hands of Lei¬ 
cester. It was gained at the last by the daring of a single 
person, Edward Stanley, lieutenant to Sir William. He was 
trying to force his way into a breach made by the cannon in 
the solid wall, when a Spanish soldier thrust his long pike at 
him. Seizing the weapon with both hands, Stanley tried to 
wrest it from his adversary, and though attacked by several 



MEN DRESSED AS WOMEN AT ZUTPHEN. 





















1586. Leicester s httrigumg Favorites. 369 

other soldiers still kept his hold. Then letting the pikeman 
raise him from the ground, he' got his feet upon the wall, and 
in an instant made his way over it into the fort, sword in 
hand. He would have been killed had not his men, nerved 
by his daring, climbed on each other’s shoulders and dashed 
over the broken barrier. The astonished garrison were soon 
overpowered, and the fortress was gained. Leicester at once 
knighted Edward Stanley for his gallantry, and presented 
him next day with two hundred dollars in gold and a pension 
of three hundred for life. 

Meanwhile the earl and the states-general became more 
and more hostile. His followers were the rigid Calvinists, 
who, though democratic in politics, wished to subject the 
civil government to their church. They were opposed by 
the rich mercantile aristocracy, who inclined toward religious 
toleration, and were led by statesmen like Barneveld and Buys, 
who controlled the young Prince Maurice. 

High in Leicester’s favor were two Flemish refugees, Rein- 
gault and Burgrave, and a Brabantine named Deventer. 
Although the laws of the United Provinces denied offices to 
foreigners who had not been in the country ten years, the 
earl appointed these strangers to important posts. By their 
intrigues the province of Utrecht was revolutionized and the 
sovereignty offered to Queen Elizabeth. The* unscrupulous 
Reingault, who had been a tool of Cardinal Granvelle and 
Alva and Requesens, was made chief of a finance chamber 
which injured the trade of the country. These adventurers 
became so unpopular that the states of Holland and Zealand 
wrote to Ortell, their agent in London, to correct their false 
reports and explain to the queen’s government how Leices¬ 
ter had been duped by his artful advisers, who, in turn, 
advised the earl to urge the removal of Ortell. 

There was one man whom Leicester had flattered and 
caressed till he found that his favorite had exposed Queen 

24 


370 History of the Netherlands* 

Elizabeth’s secret intrigues with Spain and his own attempts 
to secure some of the Dutch cities. This was Paul Buys, 
a leading member of the states-general, and ex-Advocate of 
Holland, who had long favored English rule in the Nether¬ 
lands. He had been the trusted friend of William the Silent, 
who, when intending to accompany the ill-fated Batenburg 
expedition for the relief of Leyden in 1573, appointed him 
governor in his absence and temporary stadtholder in case of 
his death. Leicester’s hatred of the shrewd statesman had 
been increased by his scornful refusal to take office under 
Reingault, whom he declared unworthy to be his clerk. 

Through his spies, one of whom was the forlorn Elector 
Truchsess, Leicester learned that Buys, in despair of Queen 
Elizabeth’s accepting the sovereignty of the provinces, was 
inclined to offer it to the King of Denmark, to whose 
daughter Prince Maurice was engaged to be married. The 
earl lost no time in warning his sovereign of the danger of 
this scheme to English power on the ocean. So when 
Buys was arrested and imprisoned about this time, the out¬ 
rage was attributed to Leicester, in spite of his denial. Not¬ 
withstanding the earl’s assertion that Paul Buys could be 
proved guilty of offences that would cost him his life, he 
was released at Elizabeth’s request six months afterward. 

Leicester was now thwarted on all sides. The queen 
would neither accept the sovereignty of the provinces nor 
pay him or his starving troops. He could not bear the inde¬ 
pendence of the proud traders who ruled the country and 
distrusted him and his tricky associates. So the disappointed 
earl resolved to visit England to offset the influence of the 
states’ envoys, and have Mary, Queen of Scots, beheaded 
as a traitor. The leading members of the states-general 
opposed his departure at this troubled time, and Barne- 
veld in particular took pains to defeat his plan to have 
Maurice accompany the embassy from the states. There 


1586. Leicesters Hehirn to Englmtd. 371 

were fears that the earl would either win over the young 
prince by persuasion or keep him in England as his brother, 
Philip William, had been kept in Spain. Leicester com¬ 
plained of the treatment of his finance council, his favorite, 
Reingault, having been imprisoned by the states as a swin¬ 
dler and demagogue; but, despite this and other disputes, 
the earl and the states-general parted on good terms. Bar- 
neveld pointed out the danger of peace with Philip to Eng¬ 
land as well as to the provinces, and urged Leicester to use his 
influence against it. Before leaving, the states presented 
him with a superb silver-gilt vase ‘‘ as tall as a man.” He 
had just signed an agreement with them, on the 24th of No¬ 
vember, 1586, by which the state council were to govern in 
his absence, their decrees being issued in his name and 
countersigned by Maurice of Nassau. 

The influence of the earl’s Calvinistic friends had made 
him suppress other Protestant sects, but his chief efforts had 
•been turned against the Catholics, whom he suspected of 
treason. Though Queen Elizabeth instructed him not to 
meddle with religious matters in the Netherlands, he had 
banished seventy of these zealots from Utrecht at the time 
Paul Buys was arrested. Yet his favor for one promi¬ 
nent Catholic was to bring serious disaster to the United 
Provinces. 


CHAPTER XXII. 


A FLOOD OF TREACHERY. 

Parma’s victories hcd brought desolation to the Spanish 
Netherlands. The great cities wc^e deserted by their thriving 
merchants and industrious mechanics. Ancient nobles and 
rich burghers were reduced to beggary. Famine darkened 
the land. Many towns and villages were left bare of inhabi¬ 
tants. Wild beasts roamed over once fertile farms, and de¬ 
voured human beings close to the most populous places. 
Hunger made dogs as ferocious as wolves, and, banded 
together in large packs, th j boldly attacked both men and 
animals. Peaceful in "ustry having declined, many workmen • 
who did not swell the tid of emigration became soldiers 
and brigands. Meantime the United Provinces profited by 
the ruin of their neighbors; their commerce and manu¬ 
factures increased w n erfully. By keeping the war from 
their borders and trading with the enemy, they secured a 
double triumph. But they were soon to suffer from the faith¬ 
lessness of some of the foreigners whom they had trusted. 

On his departure for England Leicester appointed Sir 
William Stanley governor of the important city of Deventer. 
It was a dangerous choice, for there was a strong Catholic 
and Spanish party in the place; and, though Sir William 
had lately done good service for the patriots, he was himself 
a Papist and suspected of double-dealing. To add to the 
danger, a garrison of five hundred Irish Kernes” was sta¬ 
tioned in the town. They were half-naked barbarians, who 
used bows and arrows, ate raw flesh, and crossed rivers and 


1586. The Traitors Stanley and Yorke. 373 

bogs on high stilts. The dread of these fierce Catholic ma¬ 
rauders was increased by the fact that no one could under¬ 
stand their language. 

Another dangerous appointment for Zutphen was made 
by the careless earl. He placed an unscrupulous adventurer, 
named .Rowland Yorke, in command of the fortress. This 
desperate man had been concerned in a number of traitorous 
schemes, and had fought on both sides during the war in the 
Netherlands. It was he who first boarded the mysterious 
“ hell-burner ” at the siege of Antwerp ; but, though his brav¬ 
ery was unquestioned, he was the last man to be intrusted 
with a responsible position. 

Both of these appointments had been made by Leices¬ 
ter against urgent objections by the states. He had also 
played false toward them in his selection of officers to act 
in his absence. After giving supreme power to the state 
council, with command of the English forces to Norris, he 
signed a secret paper which made Stanley and Yorke wholly 
independent. This was an affront to Count Hohenlohe, who 
commanded the Dutch and German troops, as well as to 
Norris. Leicester’s hatred to these two men was deepened 
by an affair which took place before the battle of Zutphen. 
At a supper party given by Hohenlohe, one August evening in 
the previous year, that excitable officer had, while intoxicated, 
quarrelled with Sir John Norris’s younger brother, Edward. 
The fiery host threw a heavy gilt cover of a silver vase in the 
captain’s face, inflicting a severe wound; and would have 
despatched his victim with his dagger had not Sir Philip 
Sidney and others interfered. Young Norris soon afterward 
sent a challenge by the hand of Sidney to Hohenlohe, 
whom the French and English called D’Oloc, Hollach, or 
Hollock.i The count, incensed at being required to fight a 

1 These variations are found in contemporary documents. Of “ Count 
d’Oloc ” Motley says, “ By that ridiculous transformation of his name the Ger- 


374 History of .the Netherlands. 

duel with an officer of inferior rank, attributed the insult to 
Leicester, who in turn was full of hatred toward Hohenlohe 
and Sir John Norris for connecting him with it. The duel 
was never fought, and the count and Sir John Norris be¬ 
came very good friends; but the enmity between them and 
Leicester increased, its evil effects being strikingly apparent 
in the favor shown by the earl to Stanley and Yorke. 

These two men soon excited the suspicions of the Eng¬ 
lish and Netherland authorities by their harsh treatment of 
the people of Deventer and their friendly dealings with the 
Spanish governor of Zutphen. Though Leicester was warned 
by the state council, he sent them no authority to arrest the 
suspected persons. In fact, he was writing confidentially to 
Rowland Yorke at the very time that the renegade was in¬ 
triguing with the Spaniards. Suspicious letters from Stanley 
and Yorke were intercepted by the states, but not in season 
to balk the traitors. 

After lulling the suspicions of the magistrates of Deventer 
by a splendid banquet on the evening of Jan. 28, 1587, Sir 
William Stanley secretly seized the various guard-houses 
and the large white* tower near the Zutphen gate. Early 
next morning the startled burghers were roused by beat of 
drum and a summons to deposit their arms in the town- 
house. Wild Irish ‘‘ Kernes ” and yellow-coated Spaniards 
were everywhere on guard. Stanley had surrendered the 

man general was known to French and English.” “ History of the United Neth¬ 
erlands,” vol. i. p. 73. New York, 1880. The change, however, is explained by 
the fact that the foimder of the Hohenlohe family was one Craton, Count of 
Hollo, or Holach, who lived at the close of the ninth century. His descendants 
became connected with the German emperors, one of them receiving estates in 
Romagna in Italy, which was formed into a county, and was named Alta 
Flamma, or High Flame, which is the English translation of Hohenlohe. 
Since the thirteenth century this princely German family has shown attach¬ 
ment to France, where two of its members attained, early in the present 
century, high military rank. “ Nouvelle Biographic Generale,” tom. xxiv. 
pp. 912, 913. Paris, 1858. 


THE WHITE TOWER 









































1 






' ■ ■ 




’-3 










1587. Indignatioji against the English. 377 

city to Colonel Tassis^ the Netherlander, who commanded 
the Spanish troops at Zutphen. “I will ruin the whole 
country from Holland to Friesland,” exclaimed Stanley, 
and will play such a game of war in Ireland as the queen 
has never seen in her life.” Yet she was about to reward 
this ambitious fanatical traitor with the governor-generalship 
of the island which he was threatening to convulse.^ 

Treachery now became rampant in the land. Rowland 
Yorke betrayed Fort Zutphen to the enemy; the castle of 
Wauw was surrendered to Parma by its commander, a 
Frenchman named Le Marchand, for a bribe of eight thou¬ 
sand dollars; and the city of Gelder was delivered up by the 
Scotch colonel, Patton, who had been placed in charge by 
Hohenlohe. These outrages excited deep distrust of Leices¬ 
ter’s countrymen, and the queen herself did not escape 
suspicion. English merchants were refused lodgings in com¬ 
mon inns; English soldiers, rendered desperate by want of 
pay, plundered the peasantry. Desertions to the enemy 
were numerous, and the starving wretches who would not 
sell themselves to Spain were glad to beg their way back to 
England. Thirty of these ragged sufferers hung round the 
gates of Elizabeth’s palace in London; and her ministers, 
after threatening to put them in the stocks, contributed 
money enough to send them home. 

The states-general of the United Provinces shared the popu¬ 
lar indignation against their old ally. A reproachful letter from 
Barneveld to Leicester was read to them and then forwarded, 
in spite of the efforts of Wilkes, the honest English envoy. 


1 Froude, after a brief revifew of Sir William Stanley’s Catholic intrigues, 
cites a letter from Mendoza to Philip, written three months before the sur¬ 
render of Deventer, in proof that Stanley went to the Netherlands with a 
deliberate purpose of treachery. “ History of England,” vol. xii. p. iS8. Lon¬ 
don, 1870. Compare Motley’s “ History of the United Netherlands,” vol. U, 
p. 175. New York, 1880. 


3/8 History of the Netherlands. 

whom the earl hated because he had told the truth about his 
misdeeds. Prince Maurice was now made governor-general 
in Leicester’s absence; while Hohenlohe, who was appointed 
lieutenant-general, busied himself in executing the orders of 
the states to protect the strongholds of the country from 
English perfidy. 

Queen Elizabeth was so angry with the provinces for their 
treatment of her favorite, and for the expense of their war, 
that she had only rebukes for their envoys, and their requests 
for further aid against Spain. But the news of Stanley’s 
treachery, the reproachful letters of the states-general to 
Leicester and herself, and Philip’s warlike preparations made 
her more considerate. Fearing that other English officers 
might betray their posts in the United Provinces and thus 
drive them into submission to their old ruler, she sent the 
poet-statesman. Sir Thomas Sackville, Lord Buckhurst, to 
smooth over matters. The new envoy, who landed at Flush¬ 
ing, March 24, 1587, at first earnestly defended Leicester 
before the states-general, but on learning the schemes of his 
agents to make him sovereign, the ambassador thought the 
government justified in opposing him. But Queen Elizabeth 
could not or would not understand the case. 

Leicester’s chief representative in the provinces was one 
Otheman, a lean, black-bearded man, whose real name was 
said to be Robert Dale. His heedless gossip about Dutch 
ladies of rank injured the English cause. Thus Count 
Meurs, governor of Utrecht, who had been an officer in the 
earl’s finance council, was alienated from him. Villiers and 
St. Aldegonde, the trusted counsellors of William the Silent, 
had always opposed the English party. William Louis, 
Stadtholder of Friesland, a cousin of Maurice, thought too 
well of Leicester to credit the charge made by the Spanish 
general, Verdugo, that the earl had plotted his assassination. 
The reckless Hohenlohe, however, had accused the governor- 


Siege of Sluys. 


379 


1587. 

general of a design upon his life. These sensational stories, 
which were intended to prevent her favorite’s return to the 
provinces, made Queen Elizabeth, as well as Leicester, very 
indignant. She secretly ordered Buckhurst to lure the turbu¬ 
lent Hohenlohe into some place where he could be safely 
imprisoned on a charge of treasonable dealings with Spain. 
It would have been madness to execute this order against 
the influential general, and the minister was too sensible to 
attempt it. 

Owing to Leicester’s intrigues and the treachery of Stanley 
in the other provinces, Holland and Zealand had to bear the 
whole expense of the war. Having voted an extra sum of 
half a million dollars, they asked for a loan of a quarter of a 
million from England. But the queen, though entreated by 
Buckhurst and Walsingham, refused to grant it. The charges 
against Leicester increased her unwillingness to aid his Neth- 
erland opponents. In reply to her instructions to induce the 
states to make peace with Spain, Buckhurst showed that 
England’s safety was in aiding them against the common 
enemy. The queen was shrewd enough not to bring her 
peace-policy before the states-general when she found that 
her envoy’s private efforts had failed. 

While matters were in this unsettled state in the United 
Provinces, Parma, who had by the death of his father, the year 
before, become a sovereign duke, suddenly appeared in 
Flanders with his army. This was early in June, 1587. 
Though Queen Elizabeth had said he was quite unable to 
attempt the siege of any town,” he at once invested Sluys, a 
seaport which was important to the safety of England as well 
as of the United Provinces. In this crisis the state council 
appointed Prince Maurice captain-general till her Majesty 
should send some one to take his place. Supreme authority 
in civil affairs was assumed by the council, — Buckhurst, 
Wilkes, and Norris, the three English members, refusing to 


380 History of fhe Netherlands. 

vote, — thus overthrowing the powers secretly granted by 
Leicester. 

Hardly had these orders passed before despatches were 
received from the earl, announcing his speedy arrival in the 
Netherlands. The sensation created by this news was in¬ 
creased by the receipt of secret letters from Leicester to his 
secretary, and his own instructions from the queen, showing 
that the absolute authority which he claimed was to be sus¬ 
tained by deception and intrigue. These letters had been 
sent by Ortell, the states envoy in England, to Barneveld, who 
assailed the earl so vehemently in the assembly that the in¬ 
dignation of the whole country was roused against him. 


CHAPTER XXIII. 


SCHENK’S DEATH-STRUGGLE. 

Parma had resolved to capture the city of Sluys on the 
coast of Flanders, because its safe and convenient harbor was 
needed for the proposed invasion of England. The town 
was one of those held by Queen Elizabeth, who in her hope 
for peace with Spain had neglected to repair the fortifi¬ 
cations. When the siege began, early in June, 1587, the 
garrison numbered only about a thousand men, and half of 
these had been thrown in on the approach of danger. The 
commandant was Arnold van Groeneveld, a brave Dutch 
nobleman; but the master spirit was the gallant Welshman, 
Sir Roger Williams, who was aided by Sir Francis Vere and 
other distinguished English officers. 

The garrison and the citizens made a desperate defence. 
Useful service was done by a band of women under their 
captains, “ May in the Heart ” and Catherine the Rose.” 
With a toilsome perseverance which excited the admiration 
of the men, they constructed a valuable outwork, which, in 
honor of their sex, was called Fort Venus.” But in spite 
of the destructive sallies of the besieged, Parma advanced 
his trenches nearer and nearer to the town. Jealousy of 
Leicester prevented the Barneveld party from sending direct 
relief to Sluys; and when the earl came back to the Nether¬ 
lands, early in July, 1587, with three thousand soldiers and 
a hundred and fifty thousand dollars, he had no effective 
aid from the Dutch leaders. Parma soon blockaded the 


382 • History of the Netherlands, 

city with a bridge of boats, and Leicester’s troops and fire¬ 
ships failed, largely through his mismanagement, to raise the 
siege. Though forced to surrender by the destructive- bom¬ 
bardment, on the 5 th of August, the besieged had inflicted 
terrible execution on the enemy. Parma was so struck by 
the ability of Sir Roger Williams in defending Sluys, that 
he tried to induce him to take arms in the Spanish service 
against the Turks ; but the faithful soldier said he felt bound 
to serve his sovereign queen, and, after her, the King of 
Navarre. 

Leicester bitterly blamed the states for the fall of Sluys, 
and Queen Elizabeth complained of their ingratitude in not 
assisting him. Through his jealousy Wilkes, Norris, and Buck- 
hurst, her Majesty’s faithful servants in the Netherlands, were 
publicly disgraced on their return to England. The queen 
still secretly intrigued for peace with Parma, and even apolo¬ 
gized for the destruction which she had encouraged the bold 
sea-rover. Sir Francis Drake, to cause among the great fleets 
in the harbors of Spain which were intended for the invasion 
of England. The gallant corsair, who cheered both his 
countrymen and the Dutch by showing how the power of 
Philip 11 . could be humbled, had come to the provinces a 
year before to ask their aid. This was promised for future 
expeditions. 

On learning that the King of Denmark had, at the begin¬ 
ning of the year 1587, offered his services to Philip II. as a 
peacemaker with his revolted subjects, the states appealed to 
Queen Elizabeth to prevent such a sacrifice. Fearing that 
the queen herself would make a private bargain with Spain, 
they wished her to restore their seaports. This, however, she 
refused to do, while disclaiming any treacherous intent. Her 
object was to avoid war with Philip 11 . by holding these 
towns, and, if necessary, compel the states to make peace. 
Yet she dreaded his recovery of the Netherlands, as a 



ATTACKING THE SPANISH FLEET. 




















































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1587. Plots against the Reptiblic. 385 

stepping-stone for the invasion of England. In her per¬ 
plexity the queen tried to induce Parma to desert his hard 
master, take the provinces for himself, and become Duke 
of Burgundy. Her underhand peace policy, which offended 
the states, failed also to conciliate Philip II., who, while de¬ 
ceiving her through Parma and his other agents with friendly 
promises, was preparing to invade her shores. Walsingham, 
her secretary of state, knew all about the Spanish monarch’s 
warlike preparations, but he could not convince her Majesty 
and her other ministers that these were directed against 
England. At last, even Leicester warned the queen of the 
approaching peril. Elizabeth’s mistake was not in desiring 
peace, but in trusting to the agents of Champagny and 
other Spanish emissaries instead of to her own cabinet min¬ 
isters and the representatives of the states. Her comptroller 
of the household. Sir James Crofts, upon whose advice she 
relied, had been bribed by Spain, 

Through their trusty agents the states were aware of the 
queen’s intrigues, and Leicester complained that his letters 
to her were revealed to them even when he had kept no copies 
himself. The earl now resorted to desperate measures to 
regain power in the provinces. A plot to seize Maurice and 
Barneveld and carry them prisoners to England was traced 
to him, and he was suspected of a scheme to secure Amster¬ 
dam, Leyden, and other important places. The plot to seize 
Leyden, the seat of religious liberalism, was devised by the 
zealous Calvinists, who were eager to subject the state to their 
church. Some prominent men were executed for this con¬ 
spiracy ; but as they were believed to have acted by Leicester’s 
authority, their punishment was thought too severe. But 
the judges, among whom were Maurice and Barneveld, claimed 
that it was high treason to support the earl’s pretensions to sov¬ 
ereignty. Their ground was, that, in the absence of a legit¬ 
imate prince, the states-general possessed supreme authority, 

25 


386 History of the Netherlands. 

while the Leicestrians held that this belonged to the people. 
In those days, however, the people — that is, the provinces 
and cities — were represented only by their legislative assem¬ 
blies, strictly popular rights being unknown. So the Dutch 
statesmen had the best of the constitutional argument. 

In disgust at his repeated failures, Leicester was glad to be 
permitted by the queen to return to England at the close 
of the year 1587. Before leaving, he expressed his feelings 
by a medal which represented the Dutch as a flock of 
sheep, ungrateful for the watchful care of an English mastiff. 
They in turn pictured him as a clumsy ape, clasping its young 
so closely as to smother them. 

Leicester’s career in the Netherlands showed his incapacity 
both as statesman and general. The showy courtier was 
no match for Parma in the field, or for Barneveld in the 
cabinet. His good qualities, courage and generosity, were 
offset by arrogance and conceit, which caused him to quar¬ 
rel with the queen’s ablest officers in the Netherlands, and 
made him the dupe of reckless adventurers. He had en¬ 
couraged the zealous Calvinists, who had opposed the toler¬ 
ance of William tlie Silent, with hopes of controlling the 
civil authority against the Catholics and Lutherans. This 
policy, which failed through the united opposition of Maurice 
and Barneveld, was to bear terrible fruit when these two 
leaders had become chiefs of hostile parties. The states 
blundered in intrusting so much authority to the ambitious 
earl, whose misconduct aggravated the evils of his sovereign’s 
policy. Leicester’s misrule had one advantage for the United 
Provinces: it enabled them to throw off monarchical con¬ 
trol, and to assume a republican form of government, though 
the power thus acquired by the states-general was not se¬ 
cured for the people, but for the burgher aristocracy.^ 

1 Thus by finesse and audacity, especially of Barneveld, the metamorphosis of 
monarchy into republic was an accomplished fact. Previously the states had 


1588. 


Parma in Disguise. 


387 


As Leicester had left the country without resigning his 
authority, serious conflicts arose between his adherents and 
those of Maurice of Nassau, who was now made stadtholder 
and captain-general. The English troops refused to obey the 
new ruler, and the garrisons of many cities broke into revolt. 
Utrecht openly favored allegiance to England, and the gov¬ 
ernor of North Holland, Diedrich Sonoy, the stern old 
partisan of William of Orange, who had been seduced by 
Leicester, held out against Hohenlohe and Maurice in his 
stronghold of Medenblik. 

At this gloomy period for the patriots. Queen Elizabeth 
publicly despatched peace-commissioners to . the Duke of 
Parma. That artful manager sent his secretary to receive 
them at Ostend, the only English possession in Flanders, early 
in March, 1588, in company with a skilful engineer disguised 
as a servant, who carefully examined the fortifications. Two of 
the commissioners afterwards visited Parma at Ghent, who 
deceived them with promises of peace. While the Spanish 
and English commissioners were meeting near Ostend to¬ 
wards the middle of May, Philip’s subtle general, disguised 
as a rabbit-catcher, inspected the defences of the city which 
he designed to besiege, with the mysterious engineer. 
Though reproving his nephew for running the risk of being 
hanged as a spy, the king appreciated his diplomatic de¬ 
ception. “ I see you understand me thoroughly,” he wrote. 
“ Keep up the negotiation till my Armada appears, and then 
execute my purpose, and replant the Catholic religion on the 
soil of England.” Pope Sixtus V. had rewarded Philip’s 
tardy consent to execute the decrees of the church against 
the heretical Elizabeth by conferring her crown upon him, 

exercised sovereignty by necessity and by interregnum; in 1588, for lack of 
another sovereign, their sovereignty 'was definitely acknowledged, religious and 
national resistance ceased, and the reign of the aristocracy began. — Groen van 
Prinsterer, “ Archives dela Maisond’Orange-Nassau,” ae serie, tom. ii. p. lix. 


388 History of the Netherlmids. 

thus following the example set by Pope Gregory XIII. to 
Don John of Austria. 

At last the Virgin Queen ended the rebellion of Leicester’s 
adherents in the provinces, which she had hitherto encour¬ 
aged, by announcing his resignation and commanding Sonoy 
to submit to the states. Owing to the neglect of Herbert, 
the English envoy, the act of abdication, which was dated 
Dec. 27, 1587, was not communicated to the states-general 
till the last of March, two months after he had received it, 
thus prolonging the troubles occasioned by the earl’s leav¬ 
ing the government in uncertainty. Lord Willoughby, the 
dissatisfied commander of the English troops who had 
sustained the rebellious Leicestrians, was bitterly opposed 
to Maurice and the Hollanders who ruled the states-general. 
The fiery soldier believed they were intriguing with Spain. 
These troubles between the English and Dutch leaders 
were particularly unfortunate at a time when hearty union 
was needed against the common enemy. 

Despite the appeals of the pope, who had agreed to pay 
part of the expense of the expedition, Philip H. would not 
have planned to invade England had it not been for her 
interference in the Netherlands, and Drake’s attacks upon 
Spanish harbors. Although he had secretly plotted to as¬ 
sassinate Queen Elizabeth, he had opposed her excommuni¬ 
cation by the pope four years before, and when that was 
effected - he had unwillingly consented to the act which 
declared her throne vacant. As a sovereign himself, he 
disliked to incite subjects to rebellion or to encourage the 
pretensions of the Roman pontiff. But having resolved upon 
hostilities with England, he intrigued to excite civil war in 
France, so as to prevent interference from that quarter. 
Philip was now a white-haired man of sixty-one, but he still 
superintended the details of his vast projects, and still 
scrawled peculiar comments on the despatches of his min- 



DESTRUCTION OF THE ARMADA. 























1588. The htvincible Armada, 391 

isters. His old-time counsellors, Ruy Gomez, Prince of 
Eboli, and the subtle Granvelle, being dead, a council of 
three, called the junta de nocha, or midnight council, regis¬ 
tered and executed his decrees. 

To second the efforts of the states’ commissioners against 
peace with Spain, the Calvinist churches sent deputies to 
Elizabeth to implore her to accept the sovereignty of the 
provinces. While promising to protect their liberties, she 
would not agree to the demands of these zealots that Cath¬ 
olics should be excluded from the country. 

Fortunately ’for the cause of civil and religious liberty, 
the Invincible Armada, a^ the great Spanish fleet was vain- 
gloriously called, came to a disastrous end. The delay in its 
departure, caused by contrary winds and the death of its 
first admiral, the Marquis of Santa Cruz, one of the heroes 
of Lepanto, gave the English time to renew the preparations 
for resistance which had been checked by the queen’s hopes 
of peace. The troops of Parma, shut up in Dunkirk with 
their immense military supplies, suffered terribly from Philip’s 
neglect. In three months they were reduced from thirty 
thousand to seventeen thousand effective men. Then the 
blockading squadrons of Holland and Zealand, under Ad¬ 
mirals Warmond and Justine of Nassau, prevented them from 
venturing out in their frail transports to join the mighty 
Armada. Early in September, 1588, that formidable fleet, 
shattered by the smaller but more efficient vessels of the 
English, under command of Howard, Drake, Hawkins, and 
Frobisher, fell a prey to the tempests in the Northern Seas. 

Only a third of the Armada which had sailed so proudly 
on its errand of conquest returned with the Duke of Medina 
Sidonia, its incompetent commander, to Spain. The ablest 
naval officers of the country and its most hardy mariners had 
perished or been taken prisoners. Yet the news reached 
Philip H. so gradually, that, though at first overcome with 


392 History of,.the Netherlands. 

grief, he was able to appear composed when the whole truth 
was known. But Parma, as commander of the land forces, 
was unjustly blamed for not venturing out in his unseaworthy 
barges in the teeth of the Dutch blockaders, to meet the 
Armada. No wonder that the faithful general was so en¬ 
raged at these reproaches that, as Drake said, he was like a 
bear robbed of her cubs. 

Soon after the defeat of Philip’s great fleet, the Earl of 
Leicester died. He had been commander of the brave but , 
disorganized forces assembled to defend the English coast 
against the invasion, which, fortunately for him* as well as for 
his country, was averted. 

Parma, sick and sad though he was, had no sooner re¬ 
moved his troops from his useless barges than he laid siege 
to Bergen-op-Zoom, the last city but one in Brabant held by 
the states. Despite his daring assaults it held out bravely, 
the English and Dutch garrison being cheered by the pres¬ 
ence of Barneveld and Maurice of Nassau. But the duke 
was deceived into trusting two Englishmen who came to his 
camp with an offer of betraying the town. Notwithstanding 
Parma’s precautions, "the Spanish force of a thousand men 
sent back with the treacherous visitors were entrapped into 
the clutches of Lord Willoughby, and nearly all of them 
killed. Thus ended the ill-fated siege of Bergen early in 
November, 1588. 

Another act of treachery soon renewed the ill will between 
England and the states which the defeat of the Armada had 
allayed. Prince Maurice, having besieged the important 
city of Gertruydenberg in order to subdue its mutinous, 
unpaid garrison of Dutch and English troops, was forced 
to retire. The city, which had been in rebellion since Lei¬ 
cester’s departure, surrendered to the Spaniards April 10, 
1589. Sir John Wingfield, the commander, was denounced 
by the states for this act of treason; but it was claimed by 



BERGEN-OP-ZOOM, 


























































































































1589- Schenk's Attack on Nimegiten. 395 

his brother-in-law, Lord Willoughby, that he was in the 
power of his rebellious soldiers, who had been maddened by 
the threats of the all-powerful Barneveld. The states having 
set-a price on the heads of Wingfield and the garrison. Queen 
Elizabeth resented this treatment of her officer, and thus the 
two governments were again at odds. Fortunately for the 
republic, Philip II. was unable to take advantage of its diffi¬ 
culties. He was now planning to invade France, and Parma 
was seeking health at the waters of Spa. 

That daring freebooter, Martin Schenk, was vexed that the 
states had let the city of Bonn and other places which he had 
captured in the electorate of Cologne, fall into the enemy’s 
hands. But the United Provinces were too hard pressed at 
home to defend foreign conquests, so the dispossessed Truch- 
sess took refuge in Germany, and Schenk made war on 
his own account. He had built a fort on the Rhine island 
of Batavia, so famous in the old Roman days. P’r9m this 
stronghold he sallied forth to levy black-mail on the farmers, 
or to plunder the Spanish provision and treasure trains. But 
the bold brigand’s career was nearing its close. 

On a dark night in August, 1589, Martin Schenk, with 
twenty-five barges filled with soldiers, floated down the river 
Waal from his robber castle to the walls of Nimeguen, 
a wealthy city which he had long coveted. Landing his 
best men, he broke through the gate of St. Anthony, killed 
the guard, and hurried along the silent streets till he reached 
a splendid house on the market-place, which it v/as impor¬ 
tant for him to secure. As the invaders forcibly entered 
the rear of the house, they heard unexpected sounds. A 
wedding feast was taking place in the stately mansion, and 
music and dancing were enlivening the guests. Suddenly 
the mail-clad chieftain and his musketeers came tramping 
in. The revellers fled in terror from the iron warrior with 
whose dreaded name mothers frightened their children into 


396 


History of the Netherlands. 


good behavior, and on he strode into the square. Meanwhile 
some of the fugitives had alarmed the town. The burghers 
and garrison rushed to the scene of action, and after hard 
fighting drove the invaders into the house. Three times 
Schenk dashed forth with his little band, and hewed his way 
into the square only to be forced back by its swarming de¬ 
fenders inter the wedding mansion. All this time he was anx¬ 
iously awaiting the arrival of the rest of his soldiers whom he 
had left in the barges. But the freshet in the river had swept 
them.by the landing-place, and they were unable'to return. 

It was now daybreak; and the aroused populace, men, 
women, and children, were on the alert against the ma¬ 
rauders. Hemmed in by the infuriated throng, who as¬ 
sailed them with all sorts of weapons and missiles, Schenk’s 
musketeers at last gave way. They fled toward the wharf 
in spite of his curses and death-dealing blows. Borne 
along with his disordered band, Martin saw, on reaching 
the pier,* his missing soldiers half a mile down the river in 
their barges vainly struggling against the current. There 
was no time to attempt to regain the lost ground. The 
affrighted musketeers 'had leaped into the boats at the 
wharf, several of which sank under their heavy load. Schenk, 
though severely wounded, still remained on the pier; but, 
seeing his maddened pursuers close at hand, he sprang 
into the last boat just as it was moving off. The barge, 
already overloaded, went down under this fresh weight, and 
the mail-clad Martin Schenk could not rise again. His body 
was fished up some days afterward by some of the inhabi¬ 
tants of Nimeguen, who, in their hatred of the grim free¬ 
booter, divided it into four pieces which, with his head, were 
placed upon the battlements. When Maurice of Nassau cap¬ 
tured the city, he had the remains of the fierce soldier, which 
had meanwhile been kept in a church tower, buried with 
great pomp in the tomb of the ancient dukes of Gelderland. 



HENRY III. AT THE DEATH OF GUISE, 


397 
















CHAPTER XXIV. 


THE DARING CAPTURE OF BREDA. 

To avenge the Armada’s affront and place the preten¬ 
der, Don Antonio, on the throne of Portugal, an English 
expedition under Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Norris set 
out for Spain on the i8th of April, 1589. The Dutch con¬ 
tributed a quarter of the one hundred and sixty vessels, 
mostly armed merchantmen, and about a tenth of the four¬ 
teen thousand men engaged in this enterprise. It accom¬ 
plished little beyond braving the enemy on their own shores 
and destroying some villages and shipping. Disease carried 
off nearly one half the adventurers, and the survivors were 
disappointed in their hopes of booty. 

The power of Philip II. in France received a check by 
the assassination of the intriguing Duke of Guise through 
the plots of his cowardly dupe. King Henry III. But while 
besieging Paris with his old opponent, Henry of Navarre, the 
dissolute monarch was himself assassinated. This was on 
the 2d of August, 1589. The dagger of Jacques CEment, a 
fanatical monk, was thus the means of bringing a Protestant 
patriot to the throne under the title of Henry IV. As 
Queen Elizabeth and the states recognized the new sov¬ 
ereign as a foe to Spanish control of France, they each 
aided him with ^110,000 in gold. 

During the absence of Parma in France, the government 
of the submissive Netherlands was left in charge of old 
Count Mansfeld, a veteran unfitted to combat the fresh 


400 History of,.the Netherlands. 

vigor which now inspired the patriots. By the efforts of 
Barneveld, who controlled the states-general, order was 
restored to the finances of the country. As the uncertain 
compensation of soldiers had weakened their discipline, they 
were paid promptly, while damage done to property was 
deducted from the offender’s wages. Thus the troops, in¬ 
stead of being dreaded as plunderers, were welcomed as 
profitable customers. The navy was also benefited by the 
establishment of a Council of Admiralty, of which Prince 
Maurice was placed at the head. Besides adding eight 
ships to the sixty-eight which the provinces had at sea, 
twenty pinnaces, of from sixty to a hundred tons, were built 
to protect fishing and merchant vessels from the pirates of 
Dunkirk. These pinnaces were small galleys provided with 
both sails and oars. 

Maurice’s influence was now steadily increasing. On the 
death of Villiers, his father’s old counsellor, from a wound 
received at the siege of Gertruydenberg, his stadtholderate 
of Utrecht had passed to Count Meurs, stadtholder of Gel- 
derland and Overyssel, who being killed by an explosion of 
fireworks in October, 1589, the prince, who was already 
stadtholder of Holland and Zealand, was elected to these 
three other high offices. His cousin, Count William Louis, 
who was to aid him in establishing a truly national army 
and in revolutionizing the art of war, had been stadtholder 
of Friesland since the death of William the Silent. One of 
the first objects of the patriot chiefs was to regain the places 
which had fallen into the enemy’s hands. A deed of des¬ 
perate daring soon began this work. It was directed against 
the important city of Breda in Brabant, which was the family 
estate of Maurice and was strongly fortified. 

One day a boatman who supplied the castle commanding 
the city with peat for fuel, suggested to the prince a stratagem 
for capturing it. His plan was to conceal a body of soldiers 


1590- ^ Dmtgerous Cargo. 401 

under a layer of peat in his vessel, which would probably be 
allowed to pass through the water gate of the fortress without 
search. Maurice favored the scheme, and by Barneveld’s ad¬ 
vice intrusted its execution to a Captain Heraugiere, a parti¬ 
san of Leicester, who welcomed this opportunity of proving 
his patriotism. Having taken seventy picked men from differ¬ 
ent regiments, they were crowded into the hold of the little 
craft on the night of the 26th of February, 1590. Though the 
castle was only a few leagues distant, the wintry winds and 
ice blocks so impeded the progress of the vessel that it did 
not reach its destination for four days. During this time the 
poor soldiers, closely packed in their narrow quarters, suf¬ 
fered extremely from cold and hunger. On approaching the 
castle the vessel sprang a leak, and when the officer of the 
guard came aboard, the men concealed in the hold were 
crouching knee-deep in water. A lieutenant named Mat¬ 
thew Held now began to cough, and, fearing to betray the 
whole party, he drew his dagger and begged one of his com¬ 
panions to kill him. Fortunately the captain of the vessel, 
hearing the noise as he stood on deck, had presence of 
mind enough to start the pumps, thus drowning the cough¬ 
ing sounds which had become general. So the officer of 
the guard went away without having his suspicions excited. 

As the ice prevented the vessel from coming close to the 
castle, some of the garrison aided in hauling her up. The 
peat was unloaded so fast as to alarm the captain, who 
caught a glimpse of the boards which concealed the con¬ 
spirators. As it was getting dark he had an excuse for 
dismissing the workmen, to whom he gave a few coins for 
beer, and told them to come back in the morning. When 
the servant of the captain of the guard was about leaving, he 
complained that the peat was not as good as usual and that 
his master would not be satisfied with it. “ Ah,” said the 
skipper, with a terrible meaning which was lost on the unsus- 

26 


402 


History of. the Netherlands. 


pecting servant, “ the best part of the cargo is below. It is 
expressly reserved for the captain. He is sure to get enough 
of it to-morrow.” 

It was nearly midnight when Heraugiere, just before lead¬ 
ing his men on their desperate adventure, made an earnest 
appeal to their courage and patriotism. Then, noiselessly ad¬ 
vancing to the guard-house, he clutched the startled sentinel 
by the throat, and forced him to reveal the number of the 
garrison, which he prudently concealed from his followers, 
telling them that there were only fifty instead of three hun¬ 
dred and fifty men. The captain of the watch, overhearing 
the noise, rushed out of the guard-house. He was instantly 
run through the body by Heraugiere, who, though wounded 
by one of the garrison, killed another assailant. The others, 
having retreated into the guard-house, were shot down by 
the patriots. Meanwhile the citadel had been assailed, and 
the inexperienced youth in command, a nephew of the Gov¬ 
ernor Lanzavecchia, who had gone to protect Gertruyden- 
berg, was driven' back wounded after an imprudent sally in 
which most of his followers perished. Fortunately for the 
invaders the Italiah garrison fled panic-stricken into the 
city, terrifying the burghers instead of rousing. them to 
resistance. 

On arrival of the vessel within the fortress, a messenger 
had been sent to Prince Maurice informing him also of 
the departure of the governor. The prince at once de¬ 
spatched Count Hohenlohe with a body of soldiers to the 
castle, following them himself with his brother. Admiral 
Justine of Nassau, Sir Francis Vere, and' other high officers. 
As his troops marched into the town the band played St. 
Aldegonde’s famous national air ‘‘William of Nassau.” The 
burgomaster of Breda and young Lanzavecchia now agreed 
to surrender. A heavy fine was imposed on the burghers, 
and the public exercise of the Catholic religion was sus- 


1590 . 


A yoyful Celebration, 


403 


pended till the states-general should make a general rule 
for such cases. Parma was so enraged at the cowardly 
surrender of the city and fortress that he had three of the 
captains beheaded, degraded a fourth, and removed Gov¬ 
ernor Lanzavecchia from the command of Gertruydenberg. 
The capture of Breda, March 4, 1590, without the loss of 
a single man, was joyfully celebrated throughout the United 
Provinces. It was the beginning of an era of victory. 
Heraugiere was rewarded by the governorship of the city, 
Matthew Held was given the command of a neighboring 
fort, and Barneveld, as the director of the undertaking, 
was presented by the states-general with a superb gilded 
vase, on which the scenes of the expedition were vividly 
represented.! 

^ Hardly any enterprise more difficult and daring than this, nor one executed 
with as much prudence and perseverance, can be found in all antiquity. — Le 
Clerc, “ Histoire des Provinces-Unies des Pays Bas,” tom. i. p. 150, folio. 
Amsterdam, 1728. 


CHAPTER XXV. 


MAURICE OF NASSAU’S TRIUMPHS. 

Though the army of the republic was small, the young 
commander trusted to the devotion and discipline of his 
troops to make up for their deficiency in numbers. With 
his twenty thousand infantry and two thousand cavalry, he 
was prepared to overpower much larger forces. Maurice 
had a genius for war which his father lacked, and prepared 
his plans so carefully that nothing was left to luck. He would 
not allow his cavalry to wear the tight boots then so fashion¬ 
able among the French, and which he claimed took an hour 
to put on or off. His own were made so loose that he 
could jump into thgai at a moment’s notice. He slept so 
soundly that, to avoid being surprised by the enemy, as his 
father had been, two guards watched by turns outside his 
tent to wake him in case of need. 

By adopting the advice of his cousin, William Louis, and 
reviving the small compact column of the ancient Romans 
and their rapid evolutions, Maurice was to astonish old-school 
generals. He had also paid careful attention to the peculiar 
conditions of warfare in the Netherlands, where strongly forti¬ 
fied places were to be assailed. Having closely studied sci¬ 
entific engineering, he applied it in besieging operations in 
connection with his improved artillery. A particular guild 
of craftsmen instead of regular soldiers served the great 
guns, while the field-pieces were handled by nimble sailors. 
All the cannon were of bronze. They ranged from forty- 



HENRY IV. AT IVRY, 


405 








1590- Maurice's Military Improvemeuts, 407 

eight to twelve pounders, the largest being twelve feet long, 
seven thousand pounds in weight, and drawn by thirty- 
one horses. With his siege guns and mortars which belched 
forth shells, red-hot shot and stones, Maurice was able to 
reduce strongholds hitherto deemed impregnable. The 
spade, too, played an important part in his sieges, though 
its use was long opposed by soldiers as degrading. 

The musket in those days was so heavy that it had to be 
rested in firing on an iron fork stuck in the ground. Even 
the lighter arquebus, or hook-gun, so called from the hook in 
the barrel by which the soldier steadied his aim, was a clumsy 
affair. Both the musket and the arquebus had match-locks, 
contrivances with a match or twisted rope prepared to retain 
fire. As the bayonet was not yet invented, long pikes were 
still used, and there was a shorter weapon combining the 
spear and the battle-axe, called the halberd. Shields or 
bucklers were carried for the protection of the captains. 
Maurice reduced the proportion of pikemen in his infantry, 
and substituted carbines or long pistols for lances in the cav¬ 
alry, as they were not designed to move with great speed or 
force against the enemy. Thus the young general had begun 
to apply in warfare the principle so happily expressed by the 
Autocrat of the Breakfast Table : The race that shortens its 
weapons lengthens its boundaries.” 

Though Maurice had to submit important military meas¬ 
ures to a council of war and commissioners of the Council of 
State, Barneveld’s influence gave him practically supreme 
authority. Great improvements in the organization of the 
army were thus made possible. By direct payment of his 
soldiers the prince abolished the abuses practised by captains 
in receiving full pay for half-filled companies. Dead men s 
names were then kept on the muster-roll, which was swelled 
by raw recruits who were discharged soon after being counted 
in. As the republican troops had no excuse for such rob- 


4 o8 History of the Netherlands. 

beries as Parma’s unpaid veterans committed, the death 
penalty inflicted by the young commander made them very 
rare. . 

In December, 1590, Alexander Farnese returned from his 
French expedition. He had obliged Henry IV. to raise the 
siege of Paris after that monarch’s famous victory at Ivry, 
on the 13th of March, where Count Philip Egmont, son of 
the ill-fated general, led the Flemish cavalry, and was killed 
before his dashing troopers fled from the fiery onset of the 
white-plumed hero of Navarre. Meanwhile Maurice of 
Nassau had captured several Netherland strongholds. Ill 
health and the weakness of his army prevented Parma from 
checking the skilful and rapid advance of his young rival. 
While Maurice, by a feigned attack on Gertruydenberg and 
Bois-le-Duc obliged his veteran opponent to reinforce their 
garrisons, he moved on toward Zutphen. On the 23d of 
May, 1591, the day before his arrival, some of his troops 
had captured the great fort by an ambuscade supporting a 
number of soldiers disguised as peasants who had lured the 
guards from the gate on pretence of dealing in provisions. 

A week afterward the city surrendered, Maurice having 
meantime thrown a bridge of boats over the Yssel, and 
cannonaded the town with thirty-two great guns. Without 
stopping to rest, the active prince moved that evening upon 
Deventer, seven miles below, which was in command of his 
cousin. Count Van den Berg. Against the advice of his 
council, who feared the advance of Parma, Maurice, who 
had bridged the river above and below, brought his heavy 
guns to bear upon the city. Having shattered part of the 
defences, he ordered an assault across a bridge which had 
been hastily thrown on floats over the intervening sheet of 
water. The bridge was too short, so that the first assailants, 
who were Englishmen, eager to efface the disgrace of Sir 
William Stanley’s treason at this very place, had to leap 


? 





























IS9I. 


Maurice baffles Parma. 


411 


or swim to the wall. The survivors encountered a des¬ 
perate resistance from the enemy, who were maddened by 
drink provided by Van den Berg, who led them on with 
great daring. But, though driven back from the ramparts, 
the assailants held the bridge bravely against the foe. By 
the following morning, June 10, 1591, the cannon of Mau¬ 
rice had done such destruction in the city that the inhabi¬ 
tants were glad to surrender. 

Without pausing in his onward march the young prince 
moved his army toward the city of Groningen, taking a num¬ 
ber of places on the way. Learning, however, that Banna 
had improved the opportunity to besiege a fort which com¬ 
manded the city of Nimeguen, he hurried back to relieve 
it. He arranged his plans so skilfully as to entrap a regi¬ 
ment of Spanish and Italian veterans, many of whom were 
killed or taken prisoners, while the rest fled before the states’ 
troops. Parma, unprepared for the operations of his wily 
foe, was now endangered by having the river Waal, without 
a bridge, between' his army and its supplies. He skilfully 
extricated himself from this peril, and retreated to Nime¬ 
guen, ’which he soon left, to seek restoration to health in 
the waters of Spa, before setting out on his new French 
expedition. The populace jeered at the departing hero, 
who they declared sought pretexts for escaping danger. 

While the inhabitants of Nimeguen were preparing for an 
attack from Prince Maurice, he suddenly appeared, on the 
19th of September, before the gates of Hulst, an important 
city twelve miles from Antwerp. So well had the prince 
arranged his plans that the place surrendered in five days. 
The veteran Mondragon, governor of Antwerp, was very 
much excited over this loss; but before he could avenge it, 
his active enemy had thrown a bridge over the Waal and 
transported his troops to the walls of Nimeguen. Sixty-eight 
cannon were brought to bear against the town, while the fort 


412 


History of the Netherlands. 


on the other side of the river was ready to pour hot shot 
into it. Maurice exposed himself so much in attending to 
these preparations that he was implored not to risk his pre¬ 
cious life again. In reply to his summons to surrender on 
the 20th of October, the authorities of the city saucily said 
that the prince was but a young suitor, and Nimeguen a 
maiden not to be easily won. He would have to take more 
pains with his courtship. The cannon of the gallant suitor 
now thundered so heavily against the city that it surrendered 
the very next day. Maurice allowed the garrison to retire 
with the honors of war, but he reserved control over the city 
government, which had been hitherto exercised by the guilds. 
He also refused the request of the inhabitants for public 
Catholic worship till the states-general should give their 
consent. 

Nearly all Gelderland was now held by the nationalists. 
Owing to the lateness of the season, the continued rains, 
and especially the sickness of Barneveld, who controlled the 
states-general, Maurice placed his army in winter quarters. 
His short campaign had been so brilliant that on his return 
to Holland he was greeted with overflowing enthusiasm. At 
his triumphal reception at the Hague his martial bearing 
enraptured the people, and the military talents of the Silent 
Prince, his father, were said to be eclipsed by the genius 
which had baffled the great Duke of Parma. A Dutch boy 
of eight years, named Hugo Grotius, destined to astonish 
Europe by his wisdom, composed some remarkable Latin 
verses in praise of the young hero, which were widely quoted. 
Queen Elizabeth wrote a warm letter of congratulation to 
Maurice, and Verdugo, the veteran Spanish general, declared 
that he should esteem it an honor to be beaten by so able a 
commander. 

Most of the cities which Maurice had captured showed 
the evil effects of their occupation by foreign soldiers. 


1592 . 


Surrender of Steeiiwyk. 


413 


Many of the houses were in ruins, and the better class of 
the population had left. Parma’s absence in France enabled 
Maurice to continue his victorious career. He laid siege to 
Steenwyk the last of May, 1592 ; but as his artillery, being on 
low ground, made little impression on the strong walls, he 
undermined them with pick and spade. As he had been 
censured for relying on earthworks and cannon against de¬ 
fences which, according to old-school practice, should have 
been carried by assault with the pike, so he was now criticised 
for degrading his troops into useless delvers in the earth. 
Before long, however, his novel methods of warfare proved 
startlingly successful. The mines shattered the two great 
bastions and placed the city at the mercy of Maurice, who 
had been ably supported by his cousin William Louis. Sir 
Francis Vere, the gallant English officer, was disabled by a 
wound in the leg early in the action, and the prince himself 
had a narrow escape from death by a bullet lodging in his 
cheek. The city surrendered on the 4th of July, 1592, after 
a siege of forty-four days. Old soldiers now acknowledged 
that pickaxes and shovels had done good service, and 
that the engineers had greatly lightened the labors of the 
troops. 

Still bent on conquest, Maurice advanced to the important 
city of Coeworden, which was surrounded by vast swamps. 
After getting his guns into position he summoned the place 
to surrender. The trumpeter blew three times, when the 
commander. Count Frederic van den Berg, the prince’s 
cousin, appeared alone upon the walls and demanded his 
message. 

“To claim this city in the name of Prince Maurice of 
Nassau, and of the states-general,” was the reply. 

“ Tell him first to level my walls to the ditch,” said the 
commander, “ and then make five or six assaults. Six 
months after that I will think about a surrender.” 


414 History of the Netherlands. 

Though weakened by the departure of three British regi¬ 
ments which the queen had ordered to the relief of the 
French king, the prince went on with his digging, and soon 
received an equal number of troops from France under Count 
Philip Nassau. To prevent reinforcements from reaching 
the enemy, Maurice was advised by the deputies of the states- 
general in his camp to send out his German cavalry against 
them; but he refused to take this risk of weakening his 
army. An intercepted letter enabled him to prepare for an 
assault of about six thousand men upon his lines on a cer¬ 
tain evening. Verdugo, with all his soldiers, ventured upon 
a camiciata, or shirt attack, shirts being worn outside their 
armor to distinguish them in the darkness. This precaution 
proved disastrous to the Spaniards by making them a shining 
mark for the enemy’s fire. After an all-night struggle, in 
which Maurice exposed his life with reckless bravery, the 
assailants were repulsed with great loss on the 12th of Sep¬ 
tember. Five days afterwards the city surrendered, and the 
prince sent his troops into winter quarters. 

There were bitter disputes between England and the 
United Provinces, growing out of the war and aggravated by 
the difference in the character of the two governments. The 
aristocratic statesmen of Queen Elizabeth’s stately court 
could not bear the blunt independence of the sturdy republican 
burghers who ruled the Netherlands. The Hollanders com¬ 
plained of the withdrawal of the English troops, and especially 
of the way in which their sea-captains were maltreated and 
their ships burned or plundered under pretence of having 
Spanish property on board. Queen Elizabeth herself was 
very angry at these outrages, and speedily put a stop to them. 
They grew out of the Dutch practice of trading with Spain 
in order to provide means for waging war with that country. 
In fact, England herself had consented to this traffic, and her 
own merchants had engaged in it. Such commerce with an 


1592 . Death and Character of Parma. 415 

enemy would not be allowed by any civilized nation at this 
day. 

Though Parma had scornfully refused to betray his master 
even for the prize of Netherland sovereignty, his enemies 
prejudiced Philip against him. The duke had complained 
bitterly of the royal distrust and of the neglect to strengthen 
the ill-advised French expedition, and the jealous king 
adopted his favorite underhand method of supplanting him. 
While professing the utmost confidence in Parma, and re¬ 
questing his presence and counsel in Spain, the crafty mon¬ 
arch sent secret orders to have him brought back by force if 
necessary. Meanwhile the duke had been dangerously ill in 
France, and after a brief absence he returned by Philip’s com¬ 
mand. But the disease which had shattered his constitution 
soon proved fatal to him. He died, Dec. 3, 1592, near the 
city of Arras, while earnestly preparing for a new campaign. 
In the abbey of St. Vaast, where he breathed his last, the 
greatest soldier of the age was laid out, as he had directed, 
barefoot, in the humble dress of a Capuchin monk. Three 
hundred torches flamed around his lifeless remains, which 
were taken to his capital city of Parma for burial. There was 
a grand funeral for the famous warrior in Brussels, at which 
Spaniards and Italians fought for precedence, and his statue 
was placed in the capitol at Rome. 

Dying at forty-seven, Alexander Farnese had lived long 
enough to attain the highest eminence as a general and di¬ 
plomatist. He had sacrificed his fortune and his life in the 
cause of his sovereign and his church. His wise moderation 
softened the barbarities of Spanish warfare, and reconciled 
the conquered provinces to the king’s authority. Though 
his fame is sullied by his connection with the assassination of 
William the Silent, yet his private letters show that he deemed 
it a pious and loyal act. In his day a false idea of religious 
duty encouraged atrocities at which our sense of honor and 


416 History of .the Netherlands. 

humanity rewlts. It would be unjust to Parma to judge him 
by moral standards far above those by which contemporary 
Italian and Spanish statesmen and churchmen were guided. 
He had not the nobility of soul which made Don John of 
Austria spurn the aid of the assassin against the dreaded chief 
of the revolution. An equestrian statue by John of Bologna 
in the great square at Piacenza worthily commemorates the 
remarkable Italian, who was long the principal bulwark of 
Philip’s power in the provinces. 

As Count Ernest Mansfeld was nearly eighty years of age on 
the death of Parma, the government was now conducted in 
his name by Count Fuentes, a fierce soldier, who reversed the 
mild policy of Parma and forbade the ransom of lands from 
pillage and quarter to prisoners. His object was to make 
the peasants fight desperately for their homes, and, if con¬ 
quered, leave only a desert to the enemy. But the retaliation 
practised by the states-general after giving their brethren time 
to return to the union, compelled the abandonment of this 
cruel warfare. 

Maurice now brought all his engineering resources against 
the important city of Gertruydenberg, on the frontiers of Bra¬ 
bant, which was essential to the safety of Holland. Being 
strongly fortified, and so situated between a river and gulf 
as to be open to relief by water, the place seemed almost 
impregnable. As he had only about twenty thousand men, 
the prince resolved to make his own position safe from as¬ 
sault before attacking the enemy. By Hohenlohe’s cap¬ 
ture of one of the outlying forts, Maurice was enabled to 
connect the two camps on opposite sides of the river. 
Fagots and planks‘were laid over the swampy soil to make 
a passage-way for loaded wagons and artillery. To hinder 
the approach of a land force, water was pumped into the 
fields by windmills, and beyond them stakes and spiked 
instruments, called caltrops, were placed to disable cavalry. 


1593 - Novel Methods of Warfare. 417 

A fleet of war-ships ranged in the form of a crescent across 
the gulf blockaded the city by sea. 

In order not to interfere with the peasantry, Maurice em¬ 
ployed soldiers and sailors in constructing his intrenchments. 
Three thousand men were kept at work with pickaxe and 
shovel, who being well paid were content to toil night arid 
day. The fortifications soon extended for twelve miles, 
and with their ramparts, moats, and battlements rivalled 
those of the city they encircled, and recalled the famous 
encampments of the ancient Romans. Within Maurice’s 
lines the peasants tilled their land and sold their products 
to advantage, while the order and discipline of the camp 
were in strange contrast to the brutal license of Spanish 
soldiery. Thus the great defences became a refuge for the 
inhabitants of the surrounding country, and visitors from 
various parts of Europe observed with wonder the new 
methods of making war. 

At last old Peter Ernest Mansfeld sallied forth, with fif¬ 
teen thousand men, against the besiegers. Being unable to 
enter their works, he asked a trumpeter why the prince did 
not come out and give battle like a man. “ Because,” rephed 
the trumpeter, “ my master means to live to be a vigorous 
old commander like your excellency, and so will not give 
you any advantage over him.” The prince’s caution in not 
uselessly risking the lives of his soldiers was not shared by 
the reckless Hohenlohe, who took part in several skirmishes. 
Gertruydenberg surrendered June 24, 1593, after a three 
months’ siege. Being the family property of the Nassaus, 
Prince Maurice made his brother Frederick Henry, a boy of 
ten, governor of the city, as it had been left to him by his 
father’s will. 

Fortunately for the liberal cause, the plans of Philip II. for 
securing the crown of France for his daughter, as a means of 
destroying heresy in Europe, were defeated. Even bigoted 

27 


418 History of the Netherlands. 

Catholics resented the foreigner’s attempt to obtain the sov¬ 
ereignty, and it received its death-blow by the patriotic act 
of Henry IV. in publicly joining their church on the 24th of 
July, 1593d The states-general of the republic, recognizing 
the king as a true friend of the national cause, aided him with 
men and money to invade the obedient provinces. 

A few places in Friesland were not long afterward captured 
by the Spaniards, and there were fears that the English gar¬ 
risons at Flushing or Ostend would betray these important 
places to the enemy. Queen Elizabeth was resolved that no 
more treachery should stain the national honor, and wrote a 
warning letter to Sir Edward Norris at Ostend, who had for¬ 
tunately strengthened his force against attack. The Spanish 
army under Verdugo then sought to wrest Coeworden from 
the patriots, in order to prevent them from capturing Gron¬ 
ingen. But again Prince Maurice was too quick for them. 
Throwing his army between-Verdugo and that general’s sup¬ 
plies, he forced him to' retreat, and then marched upon Gron¬ 
ingen, the third largest city in the Netherlands, which for 
thirteen y^ars had been in the possession of the enemy. Its 
fortifications were renowned for their strength; and yet against 
the stadtholder’s scientific approaches the stronghold was 
practically powerless. 

One of the principal defences of the city was blown into 
the air, with forty of the garrison, two of whom came down 
in the besiegers’ camp, one being uninjured. Groningen 
surrendered on the 23d of July, 1594, after a siege of sixty- 
five days. As the city was to enter the union, Maurice wisely 
forebore to treat the inhabitants severely. Public exercise 
of the Catholic religion was, however, forbidden, from fear of 
its being turned against the republic. 

* “Paris,” said the king, “is well worth a mass;” but, despite the worldly 
motives for his conversion, it was, as Guizot says, essentially an act of patri¬ 
otism. 


CHAPTER XXVI. 


THE ARCHDUKES ERNEST AND ALBERT. 

The successor to old Count Mansfeld as governor-gen¬ 
eral of the submissive Netherlands was the Archduke Ernest 
of Austria, brother of the Emperor Rudolph and nephew of 
Philip II. He arrived in January, 1594. Had the king’s 
French projects succeeded, the archduke was to have mar¬ 
ried his daughter, Ciara Isabella, and assumed the sovereignty 
of that kingdom. As Ernest was a gentle, good-natured 
prince, he was welcomed by the obedient Netherlanders as a 
messenger of peace. The fact that he came without an 
army encouraged the ambitious Flemish and Walloon nobles 
in hopes of relief from the insolence of the Spanish com¬ 
manders. . 

On the entry of the new governor-general into Brussels 
and Antwerp, the guilds of rhetoric exhausted their skill in 
grand processions and tableaux, classic history and fable be¬ 
ing again ransacked for tributes of devotion. But the quar¬ 
rels of the intriguing Netherland grandees for honors and 
offices disgusted the gentle and melancholy Ernest. He was 
soon confronted by more serious difficulties. The unpaid 
Spanish and Italian soldiers in Brabant mutinied, ravaged the 
country, secured the protection of Prince Maurice, and at 
last obliged the archduke to support them in their fortified 
camp. They held out for a year and a half, preventing the 
rest of the army from engaging in any enterprise, lest they 
should seize towns left feebly garrisoned. To this wretched 
condition was the military power of Spain reduced. 


420 History of the Netherlands. 

To sustain their cause, the unscrupulous Fuentes and his 
associate Ybarra plotted early in the year 1594 to destroy 
Queen Elizabeth and Henry IV. by poison. They then 
attempted the assassination of Maurice of Nassau, and his 
brother Frederick Henry, who was at school at Leyden. 
Their agents, a priest named Renichon and a soldier named 
Dufour were arrested and executed. In their confessions 



OLD HOUSES IN ANTWERP. 


they implicated Count Berlaymont, General La Motte, and 
the very councillor, D’Assonleville, who had encouraged Bal¬ 
thazar Gerard to assassinate William of Orange. By a crafty 
device the odium of the plot was thrown upon the archduke 
Ernest. The priest had been taken into his palace to over¬ 
hear his conversation; and the soldier was encouraged with 
hopes of paradise by a man in bed, whom he was told was the 
sick archduke. It was designed also to assassinate St. Alde- 
gonde and Barneveld. 

The conciliatory Ernest now sought to win back the United 
Provinces to their allegiance; but though his learned com- 















1595 - Death of the Archduke Ernest. 421 

missioners indignantly disavowed the assassination schemes, 
the states-general, in their memorable answer of the 2d of 
May, 1594, included them in the long list of outrages which 
made negotiations with Spain impossible. Another effect of 
these murderous plots was the rigid enforcements of laws 
against Catholics in Holland. 

Henry IV. of France, who had formed an alliance with the 
United Provinces, sent an army into Luxemburg to aid them 
against the enemy in the winter of 1595. The allies, how¬ 
ever, made little progress. In fact, their weddings were more 
important than their battles, for the leading generals were 
busy in getting married. The dashing Hohenlohe was united 
to the eldest daughter of William the Silent; the French Duke 
of Bouillon married another daughter; and Count Solms, the 
noted commander of the Zealand troops, espoused a daughter 
bf the ill-fated Lamoral Egmont. 

While this merry-making was going on at the Hague, the 
Archduke Ernest was dying in Brussels. He had long been 
a mart}T to gout, and the anxieties of his position were 
too much for his enfeebled constitution. Harassed by the 
popular discontent with the war, the hatred of his Spanish 
officers, the exactions of his mutinous troops, and the suspi¬ 
cions cast upon his honor by the assassination schemes, the 
good-natured, inefficient prince was carried off by a fever on 
the 20th of February, 1595. He was forty-two years of age, 
and had ruled the country for thirteen months. His life was 
probably shortened by his dissipated habits, and his devotion 
to pleasure had disappointed the hopes entertained of his 
government. The fierce Count Fuentes, now sixty-three 
years old, had prevailed upon the dying archduke to appoint 
him his temporary successor as governor-general. This 
selection enraged the Netherland nobles, particularly the 
proud Duke of Aerschot, who had long chafed under the rule 
of the Spaniards, which he had himself aided to bring upon 


422 History of .the Netherlands, 

the land. The old time-server complained bitterly of his ill 
treatment, and soon after quitted the provinces never to 
return, dying at Venice towards the close of the year. He 
was the chief of those selfish intriguing grandees who, seek¬ 
ing their own advancement rather than the welfare of the 
country, learned, too late, the folly of favoring its foreign 
masters. 

Meanwhile the other refractory nobles had to submit to the 
grim Fuentes, despite their complaints that their privileges 
had been violated by the appointment of a Spanish governor. 
But the stern soldier, unable to resist the public desire for 
peace with the republic, unwillingly sent a mission to Maurice 
in April. It was headed by Liefveldt, the former intriguing 
chancellor of Brabant. But the son of William the Silent 
refused to treat unless the provinces disowned allegiance to 
Spain. 

While Fuentes was making a vigorous campaign in France, 
in the summer of 1595, Maurice of Nassau attempted to cap¬ 
ture the city of Grol on the frontier of Germany. But his 
plans were defeated by the veteran Mondragon, the hero of 
the march across the Drowned Land. Though ninety-two 
years of age, the gallant commander pushed on from Antwerp 
with about eight thousand men, and, by a counter ambush to 
that prepared by his opponent of twenty-eight, lured his 
choicest troops into a narrow lane, where they were easily 
overcome. 

Old Mondragon did not long survive his victory. About 
three months afterward he died in the citadel of Antwerp, 
while preparing for dinner. The veteran had been in battle 
by land and sea for seventy years, and had even been blown 
up in a fortress, yet had never received a wound. He was a 
good man as well as a skilful soldier. His troops called him 
father, and in an age of cruel commanders he was ever kind 
and merciful, 


1596. Two Notable Arrivals, 423 

Near the end of January, 1596, a new governor-general 
came to the Netherlands. This was the Archduke Cardinal 
Albert, Archbishop of Toledo, the youngest brother of the 
Emperor Rudolph of Germany. The new ruler’s tastes and 
habits were those of a soldier and politician. He brought 
with him a large quantity of silver, for the payment of the 
army, and about three thousand troops ; and his personal bag¬ 
gage was borne by three hundred and fifty mules. His com¬ 
ing awakened hopes of peace in the obedient provinces ; for 
he had governed Portugal with mildness, and was credited 
with securing from Philip the recent release of Dutch vessels 
in Spanish ports. 

The king had also inspired belief in a pacific policy, by 
allowing a distinguished Netherlander whom he had long 
held in captivity to accompany the new governor. This was 
Philip William, Prince of Orange, the eldest son of William 
the Silent, who had been kept in Spain ever since his school¬ 
boy days, when he was kidnapped by agents of the Duke 
of Alva. Though treated kindly by the king and educated 
at the university of Alcala, he was for twenty-eight years 
never permitted to go about without a guard. With his con¬ 
fiscated estates restored to him, the prince, now a grave man 
of forty-two, was sent by Philip IL, who had caused the assas¬ 
sination of his father, to conciliate the rebellious provinces. 
But the states-general of the republic suspected that a trap 
had been prepared for them. They therefore wrote kindly to 
the prince, congratulating him on his release and recalling 
his father’s patriotic sacrifices, but discouraging his own 
visit to their dominions. Philip William’s reply, though cour¬ 
teous, omitted all reference to his father’s death or his own 
captivity. 

As the prince rode into Brussels at the head of the arch- 
ducal procession, his resemblance to his illustrious father was 
noticed, though his constrained expression of countenance 


424 History of the Netherlands. 

showed the effect of his Spanish training. The arts of the 
Jesuits had destroyed the patriotic vigor which was his birth¬ 
right. Though revering the memory of his father, he had 
not the force of character to defend the glorious cause for 
which that patriot perished. 

The Archduke Albert was welcomed by his new subjects 
with extravagant festivities, which recalled the reception of his 
brother Ernest. He was thirty-six years of age, small and 
thin in person,*yet of dignified bearing, and with light hair 
and beard, and the Burgundian lip of his family. The King 
of Spain vainly hoped that his nephew could bribe Count 
Hohenlohe, who had married the sister of Philip William of 
Orange, to desert the national cause. Attempts to win over 
Heraugiere, the captor of Breda, were also abandoned from 
fear that his seeming willingness to betray his trust was an 
artful trick. The archduke was too much of a Spaniard in 
manner to please the jovial Netherlanders, and he naturally 
distrusted the intriguing grandees. He began his military 
operations by capturing the important French city of 
Calais. 

Following up this victory of his able French general, 
De Rosny, the archduke took the strong Flemish town of 
Hulst on the i8th of August. But the triumphs of Spain in 
France and the Netherlands were offset by the victory of an 
English and Dutch fleet on her own shores. As Queen Eliz¬ 
abeth had agreed not to press the repayment of her loans to 
the states, they furnished twenty-four ships of war and three 
thousand sailors, under Admiral Warmond, to the combined 
fleet of fifty-seven vessels which sailed from Plymouth Jan. 13, 
1596, under the command of Lord High Admiral Howard 
and the Earl of Essex. 

Of the six thousand soldiers in the expedition, the United 
Provinces contributed the English troops in their service. 
Dashing into the harbor of Cadiz on the 2d of June, the 



THE SECOND ARMADA, 





















































iSg 6 . The Sack of Cadiz. 427 

allies, led on by Sir Walter Raleigh, assailed the powerful 
fleet of the Spaniards, which included four great galleons, 
one of which, the “ St. Philip,” was the wonder of the 
world in size and strength. Suffering little loss themselves, 
the assailants inflicted fearful damage on the enemy. The 
daring English and Netherland troops under Essex stormed 
the fort of Puntal, upon which Louis Gunther of Nassau 
reared the banner of the republic. The death of William 
the Silent was avenged when'the orange flag of his family 
floated in triumph over one of the principal cities of the 
monarch who had proscribed and assassinated him. Cadiz 
was sacked and set on fire by the victors; and, in revenge 
for Catholic persecutions, churches, convents, and hospitals 
were selected for the barbarous sacrifice. Yet few cruelties 
were wreaked upon individuals. The great fleet escaped the 
clutches of the conquerors, being burned by the Duke of 
Medina-Sidonia, the commander of the “ Invincible Arma¬ 
da,” to avoid payment of the promised ransom of two million 
dollars. 

On the 31st of October, 1596, the United Provinces joined 
the league which France and England had formed several 
months before to resist the aggressions of Spain. The 
absence of so many of their troops on foreign expeditions 
obliged the states-general to raise, in addition to fresh levies 
for the war, six thousand paid burgher-guards for the protec¬ 
tion of the towns. From the fact of their being kept waiting 
for emergencies they were called waartgelders. Among the 
taxes now levied for the expenses of the war were some on 
silks, velvets, and other articles of luxury in dress. Although 
the rich were mainly affected by these imposts, the people 
resented them as interfering with their liberties, and they were 
therefore abandoned. The Dutch dames delighted in huge 
ruffs, stomachers, and other lace-work which required such 
immense quantities of starch as to excite complaint that the 


428 History of the Netherlands. 

wheat used in its manufacture would have supported multi¬ 
tudes. The tax on starch yielded a handsome income to the 
government. Such were the demands of fashion in the midst 
of a war which exacted patriotic self-sacrifices. 

The close of the year 1596 brought a serious loss to Philip 
II., in the destruction by a tempest of another Armada which 
he had sent to conquer England, in revenge for the assault 
at Cadiz. Early in 1597 a victory was gained by Maurice 
over the forces of the archduke, which revived the hopes of 
the nationalists. On the 23d of January the active prince 
advanced upon the Spanish troops near the village of Turn- 
hout in Brabant, whence dangerous forays were feared in the 
neighborhood. Count Varax, their commander, instead of 
marching against the enemy, fatigued by their weary tramp 
through a flooded country, fell back toward the stronghold 
of Herenthals. But before he could reach it, the stadt- 
holder was upon him. With only eight hundred horse¬ 
men Maurice dashed against the five thousand veterans of 
Varax. His mail-clad troopers bore down the renowned 
pikemen of Italy and Spain, leaving two thousand of them 
dead on the field and taking five hundred prisoners. The 
victory was largely due to the use of carbines by the states’ 
cavalry, instead of lances. Marcellus Bax, their brilliant 
leader, saved the prince from becoming the victim of his 
reckless daring. The self-confidence which this victory 
inspired in the Netherlanders was its best fruit. It was the 
first encounter in the open field since the days of Alva in 
which the spell of Spanish invincibility was broken. 

The fortunes of the Archduke Albert were brightened early 
in March, 1597, by the capture of the French city of Ami¬ 
ens by an ingenious stratagem of Portocarrero, one of his 
best officers. But the governor-general was soon involved in 
fresh difficulties. Philip IL, being unable to borrow any 
more money for his costly undertaking, had in the previous 



ATTACK ON THE FORT OF PUNTAE. 4-9 


























































1597 - 


A Dreadful Sacrifice* 


431 


November repudiated his debts, and seized the securities 
which he had pledged for loans. This act, which spread 
financial disaster throughout Europe, obliged the Archduke 
Albert to pawn his jewels to maintain his court. It was 
repeated at the end of a year, to enable the besotted king to 
obtain more money from the great merchants and bankers, 
whom he charged with blocking the progress of Christianity 
by their exorbitant rates of interest. Philip’s credit suffered 
severely from his arbitrary act, which showed to what desper¬ 
ate straits his misguided zeal for the Catholic faith had re¬ 
duced his finances. 

Since the Pacification of Ghent executions for heresy had 
almost ceased in the Netherlands. In the twenty years fol¬ 
lowing that memorable treaty humanity had made such prog¬ 
ress that a return to the cruelties of the Inquisition seemed 
impossible. Yet a dreadful sacrifice which took place in Ant¬ 
werp toward the close of the year 1597 showed that the 
bloody system of persecution died hard. A maid-servant of 
two Protestant ladies, who had renounced their faith after 
being imprisoned, was convicted by the Jesuits under 
the antiquated edicts of Charles V. of the crime of her¬ 
esy. Though sentenced by the council of Brabant to be 
buried alive, she declared she would rather die than accept 
the proffered pardon on condition of being false to her belief. 
A pit was dug in a field near Brussels, and this Anna van den 
Hove, who was forty years old, was placed in it, and the 
earth shovelled in as high as her shoulders. Being offered a 
last chance of saving her life by renouncing her religion, the 
heroic woman refused it. The executioner then covered her 
with earth, and stamped it down over her head. Though the 
horror excited by this terrible punishment prevented its repe¬ 
tition, it did not put a stop to religious persecution. It 
was not till near the close of the last century that this was 
abolished by law in Belgium. The Catholic religion being 


432 


History of the Netherlands, 


held sacred as a part of the constitution of the country, it 
is not strange that it should have long been an engine of 
oppression.^ 

In the summer of 1597 the sovereigns of Germany, Den¬ 
mark, and Poland tried to induce the states to submit to 
Spain, and thus unite Europe in a crusade against the Turks, 
who were threatening Vienna. At the Diet of Ratisbon, Mau¬ 
rice of Nassau had been proposed as general-in-chief of the 
allied armies. He had shown the Polish envoy, who had 
declared the attempt against Philip hopeless, thirty-eight 
Spanish standards taken at the battle of Turnhout. The 
prince now continued his triumphant career, capturing in 
the summer and autumn of 1597 five castles and nine strong 
cities, — among them Rheinberg, Grol, and Lingen, and 
opening communication with the eastern provinces of the 
republic. The five thousand Spanish soldiers, wisely released 
by Maurice, joined their mutinous, unpaid brethren, who 
had seized the great citadel of Antwerp, and forced the 
burghers, by occasional cannonades, to support their Eletto ” 
in luxury and make liberal allowances to the garrison. This 
was the beginning of a new rebellion among Philip’s troops 
in the provinces, which lasted for more than a year. 

Maurice’s triumphs were celebrated by medals and thanks- 

1 It is a curious fact, unknown to most readers of Netherland history, that 
the “Joyful Entrance” of Brabant, the famous charter of political freedom, 
limited religious liberty, by making the Roman Catholic religion the sole reli¬ 
gion of the State, and that the ancient constitutions of the other provinces 
contained a similar provision. Under theSe charters heretics could neither hold 
public religious services nor civil offices, and were exposed to the terrible 
penalties of later enactments, which, strange to say, have only lately been 
repealed. Until the Edict of Toleration of 1781, says Professor Hubert in his 
recent learned work on heresy in the Netherlands, the situation of Protestants 
in Belgium was extremely precarious: the caprice of a despot could revive 
against them the bloody persecutions of the sixteenth century, for all the 
ancient edicts remained standing. “ De Charles-Quint k Joseph II. J^tude 
sur la Condition des Protestants en Belgique,” p. 93. Bruxelles, 1882. 


1598. 


The Treaty of Vervins. 


433 


givings at the Hague, by order of the states-general. Europe 
resounded with the fame of the youthful warrior, who was 
pronounced the greatest tactician of modern times. 

The United Provinces were soon to lose the aid of one of 
their firmest friends in the war against Spain. Henry IV. of 
France felt obliged by the distracted condition of his coun¬ 
try and the lack of effective support from England to meet 
Philip’s favorable offer of peace by the treaty of Vervins, 
May 2, 1598. The remonstrances of the states were made 
by John of Barneveld, who with Justine of Nassau went on 
a special mission to France and England. While the gal¬ 
lant French king still sympathized with the cause of the 
United Provinces, Queen Elizabeth threatened to make peace 
with Spain unless they at once repaid her heavy loans. 

But though the queen was indignant at the conduct of 
the insolent republicans, who kept up their trade with the 
common enemy from which her subjects were debarred 
under penalty of death, she was too sensible to play into the 
hands of Philip H. The French settlement with Spain and 
the death of the aged Burleigh, the head of the English 
peace party, inclined her to favor the republic as a barrier 
against Spanish ambition. She therefore agreed to a treaty 
by which her claims .against the provinces were reduced 
from seven million to ’four million dollars, the terms of pay¬ 
ment being made easy, while the states agreed to furnish 
thirty ships of war and fifty-five hundred soldiers, in case 
England were invaded by Spain. This treaty, which was 
signed on the i6th of August,^ 1598, left Queen Elizabeth in 
possession of the three important Netherland places, which 
she held as security for her advances. Though the states 
were also deprived of her large annual loan, they were now 
prosperous enough to continue the war with vigor. 


28 


CHAPTER XXVII. 


RULE OF. ALBERT AND ISABELLA. 

Philip II. was now growing so old and feeble that he 
longed for rest from the great Netherland conflict. Too late 
he learned that the task of subduing the rebellious provinces 
was beyond his power. Yet after nearly forty years of war 
the bigoted king was unable to understand the national 
spirit which made even the Spanish Netherlands discontented 
with foreign rule. He had long thought of the provinces as 
a bridal gift for his daughter, the Infanta; and the French 
ambassador at the Hague declared the transfer necessary to 
avoid a general revolt. 

As the Archduke Albert was to marry the princess Clara 
Isabella, the entire Netherlands and Burgundy were transferred 
to them on condition of their maintaining the Catholic relig¬ 
ion and prohibiting their subjects from trading with the Indies. 
If these conditions were violated, or the archdukes, as Albert 
and Isabella were called, should have no children, their do¬ 
minions were to revert to Spain. After the treaty was signed 
at Madrid, May 6, 1598, the Archduke Albert, who was au¬ 
thorized by his future bride to assume the sovereignty, assem¬ 
bled the states-general at Brussels on the 15th of August, 
where the ancient charter of Netherland freedom, the ‘‘Joyous 
Entrance,” was read in the old Belgian tongue. The people 
were delighted at the prospect of relief from the yoke of 
Spain. 

After discarding his cardinal’s robes, the Archduke Albert 
left the government in charge of his cousin, the Cardinal 



THE ESCURIAL, 








































.. I 

•:: 





'■/ ■ 

• ■? 








V' 


■^X'. '-.. 





598 . 


Death of Philip II. 


437 


Andrew of Austria, and departed for Italy to attend his wed¬ 
ding. Before leaving, he wrote to the states of Holland and 
Zealand to urge their submission to him as an independent 
sovereign. Philip William, Prince of Orange, the Duke of 
Aerschot, and other nobles, had made similar appeals to 
Maurice; but no answer was made to them. An intercepted 
letter from Philip II. to the archduke showed that a number 
of strongholds in the obedient provinces were to be held for 
the king’s son and successor. This discovery and new plots 
against the life of Maurice increased the distrust of the United 
Provinces of all offers of reconciliation. They felt that their 
only safety was in the sword. 

On the way to his wedding the Archduke Albert heard 
of the death of Philip IL, which occurred on the 12th of 
September, 1598. In the great palace of the Escurial, sur¬ 
rounded by bones of the saints, with which he had rubbed 
his slowly decomposing body to obtain relief from agonizing 
pain, the king passed away in the seventy-second year of 
his age and the forty-third of his reign. 

Before his dying eyes he held the crucifix which Charles 
V. had used on his death-bed, and his last words were, I 
die as a good Catholic, faithful and obedient to the holy 
Roman Church.” 

None of his victims ever suffered more physical torment 
than was endured by Philip during his long illness, and none 
bore suffering more patiently. He found great consolation 
in religious exercises, and his dying request to his daughter 
was that she should maintain the Catholic faith in the Neth¬ 
erlands. He said that he suffered more • from his sins than 
from his sores, and lamented that he had been too merciful 
to the infidels. He felt no remorse for the sacrifice of 
Montigny, of Orange, or of the nameless thousands of victims 
of his cruel persecutions. But his conscience reproached 
him with his licentious habits, with the fate of his wretched 


438 


History of ■the Netherlands. 


son, Don Carlos, with his envy and neglect of Don John of 
Austria, with the murder of Escovedo, and with that jealousy 
of Parma through which so many faithful soldiers were left 
to perish. He expected damnation because the Almighty 
would prefer to see him vanquished rather than to accept 
him as the creator of his own glory. 

These confessions of the dying king are consistent with 
the whole tenor of his life, and furnish the key to his char¬ 
acter. It is as great a mistake to regard Philip II., as some 
historians have done, as a moral monster, as it would be to 
adopt the opinion of those who consider him a wise and 
sagacious sovereign. The truth is, that Philip’s mental abili¬ 
ties have generally been exaggerated and his character mis¬ 
understood. His exalted position as a monarch has given 
an illusive grandeur to his intellect, while he has been held 
morally responsible for the atrocities of his reign. But what 
was worst in his conduct as a ruler was due to the circum¬ 
stances under which he exercised sovereignty. In assailing 
heresy in the Netherlands with fire and sword, the king was 
only executing decrees of the Church as they had been 
enforced in Spain by his ancestors, in accordance with the 
national will. It was not Philip IL, but Charles V., who was 
the author of the terrible edicts that brought so much suffer¬ 
ing to the provinces; it was the emperor, not the king, who 
followed up the work of crushing out liberty in Castile, by 
giving to the Inquisition, which had existed in the Netherlands 
since the thirteenth century, new and fearful force. 

Moreover, Philip’s distrust of his ministers was largely due to 
the earnest counsels of his father. Thus the reserved, timid, 
and suspicious king, averse to travel and fond of seclusion, 
neglected to revisit the provinces, as the emperor would have 
done, but remained in his gloomy isolation to plot against 
those whom he believed were plotting against him. Deceived 
by Antonio Perez, his trusted minister, he authorized the mur- 


1598 - Character of Philip IL 439 

der of his secretary Escovedo; and it was the discovery of 
the treachery of Perez and a desire to punish him that made 
the king trample on the liberties of Arragon, and cause John 
of Lanuza, its chief justice, to be beheaded for protecting 
the fugitives. Thus popular rights in Spain were sacrificed to 
the spirit of jealous distrust from which the royal governors 
of the Netherlands suffered so severely. 

Philip’s gigantic undertakings and impassive self-control 
have gained him an unmerited reputation for greatness of 
intellect and soul. His far-reaching projects were forced 
upon him by his desperate resolve to uphold the sinking 
cause of Catholicism thoughout Europe; the vastness of his 
resources only made his failures more conspicuous. His 
calmness in defeat was due, not to philosophical composure, 
but to incapacity to comprehend its causes and consequen¬ 
ces ; hence his persistence in enterprises which experience 
had shown to be impracticable. For a time he gained a 
reflected glory from the ability of his statesmen and generals, 
and the superiority of his soldiers; but he ended by sacri¬ 
ficing these resources to his ignorance and fatalism. 

It was a misfortune for Philip H., who was a crafty politi¬ 
cian rather than a sagacious statesman, that he was confronted 
by the spirit of the Reformation. The cloistered bigot could 
not cope with the busy forces of modern progress. His 
slowness and devotion to petty details prevented him from 
recognizing a crisis and applying a remedy until it was too 
late. In fact, Philip, who was by no means the bloodthirsty 
monster he has been represented, avoided war till peace 
measures had failed. He was inclined to mercy toward 
prisoners, unless they were heretics, whom he sincerely believed 
deserved none. Unlike his father, he was not mean in 
money matters. The devotion of his servants and the skill 
of artists he generously rewarded. 

As a private citizen Philip would have been a useful mem- 


440 History of the Netherlands. 

ber of society. It was his exaggerated estimate of his pub¬ 
lic duties that made him a terrible oppressor. A depraved 
conscientiousness incited his cruel persecutions, and his 
crimes as an individual were fostered by his lonely and irre¬ 
sponsible power. Remorse for these sins deepened his desire 
to destroy heretics and secure atonement in their blood. 
This duty was enforced by his spiritual advisers. The Arch¬ 
bishop of Valencia declared that God had permitted the 
destruction of the Invincible Armada because of the king’s 
tolerance to the Moors in Spain, and Philip lamented on his 
death-bed that he had only exterminated these pests in the 
province of Andalusia. This gloomy fanaticism darkened his 
whole life. Even his taste in art reflected the sombre cast of 
his mind. 

The dreary solemnity of the palace-convent of the Escu- 
rial was in harmony with the character and religion of the 
sovereign, who built it in the shape of the gridiron on which 
St. Lawrence had been martyred, and devised amid its clois¬ 
tered recesses his vast projects for extending the faith which 
was identified with his dearest hopes of temporal and eternal 
glory. For that faith, indeed, he would have abandoned 
his crown; and, when he offered to tolerate Protestantism in 
Germany if he were elected emperor, he did so to secure 
the means of crushing it. Every form of deception and 
cruelty was justifiable, according to his conceptions of duty, 
in destroying heresy and heretics. 

The people of Spain revere the memory of Philip II., 
because he represents the pride of national supremacy in 
church and state. The prudent ” king was, above all, a 
Spaniard and a Catholic; while the emperor, his father, was 
a Netherlander, who favored his own countrymen, and with 
whom religion was more of a means than an end. Yet 
Philip’s policy drained his country of its resources, and paved 
the way for its utter humiliation, while ignorance and super- 



ROYAL PALACE AT MADRID 


















































































































































































1598 . 


Philip II. a True Spajiiard. 


443 


stition flourished on the ruins of the national prosperity. The 
popes were repelled by his assumption of superior zeal for 
the faith, which rebuked their own shortcomings j the Cath¬ 
olic clergy of the Netherlands were alienated by his new 
bishoprics, which enabled revolt to gain a dangerous head¬ 
way. Though literature and art survived the decline of his 
power, they were the expiring glories of Spain. The bigoted 
king remains the most terrible example in history of the evils 
of religious fanaticism in an absolute ruler; but his career is 
especially significant as illustrating the national character. Of 
the Spanish system of education and government in his day, 
Philip II. was at once the instrument and victim.^ 

1 The latest historian of Philip 11 . accounts for the adoration which the 
Spaniards have preserved for the memory of the sovereign who was the scourge 
of their country, as well as an obstacle to the progress of civilization, by the 
theory that a nation generally becomes attached to the man who brutalizes it; 
that it does not submit to the abuses of a master, unless its own character is 
ripe for despotism. Forneron, Histoire de Philippe II.,” 2e edition, tom. iv. 
pp. 297, 298. Paris, 1882. This is an acute remark of the learned historian; 
but it should be remembered that the Spaniards were “ brutalized,” as he him¬ 
self shows, before Philip came to the throne, and Prescott holds that they 
were proud of him as a perfect type of the national character. “ History of 
Philip II.,” vol. i. p. 74. Boston, 1858. The leading modem historian of 
Spain takes the same view. “ El reinado de Felipe fue todo espanol ” (“ the 
reign of Philip was wholly Spanish”). Lafuente, ‘‘ Historia de Espaha,” se- 
gunda edicion, tomo i. p. 155. Madrid, 1869. In a recent article, M. Auguste 
Laugel clearly discriminates between the motives and the acts of Philip as a 
ruler, and emphasizes the fact, pointed out by Gachard, that it is not the king, 
but his father, who is responsible for the Draconian severity of the placards 
which were the great engine of religious persecution in the Netherlands. “ He 
remains, for those who do not comprehend him, an object of horror and also of 
pity; anger expires before that pale face, before the king martyred by himself, 
by his violent passions, false sense of duty, and a frenzied conception of the 
royal function.” “ Revue des Deux Mondes,” tom. 53, Sept. 15, 1882. It is a 
noticeable fact, that the two most lenient judges of Philip are the eminent 
Netherland scholars, Groen van Prinsterer and Gachard, who are especially 
familiar with his oppression of their country. See also the recent work of the 
Belgian professor, Hubert, who contrasts the sincerity of Philip II., who “ was 
firmly convinced of his mission, and believed himself a new Constantine,” with 


444 History of the Netherlands, 

The first act of the new king of Spain, Philip III., was to 
seize the vessels of the rebellious provinces in his ports. The 
crews were condemned to death or imprisonment, many 
being obliged to toil as slaves in the galleys. The republic 
was now wholly cut off from the traffic with Spain, which had 
been one of the principal sources of its prosperity, as well as 
with the Spanish Netherlands. As the enemy controlled the 
East India trade, the sturdy Hollanders had long been 
obliged to obtain their Oriental products from his ports. It 
was believed by the ministers of Philip III. that the pros¬ 
perity of the republic would not survive this blow to its com¬ 
merce, but they were doomed to be disappointed. The 
maritime enterprise which had given the Dutch their great 
carrying trade, had produced navigators able to divert the 
precious traffic with the Orient to their own shores. A 
traveller named Linschoten, a native of Friesland, published 
a book in 1596 which encouraged this work. It was aided 
also by the maps of Mercator, a famous geographer of Bruges 
who had settled in Leyden. But as both Linschoten and 
Plancius, another geographer, believed that the nearest way 
to India was across the unknown region of the North Pole, 


the political aims of Charles V. in assailing the Protestants, particularly at the 
outset. The author is, however, too fair-minded to judge either of these perse¬ 
cuting sovereigns by present standards of religious toleration, though he won¬ 
ders that Protestant historians have shown such an exaggerated respect for 
the memory of Charles V., while so severely condemning Philip. “ Their educa¬ 
tion, the traditional policy of the house of Austria, and universal public law, 
all tended to make these princes enemies of heresy.” “ De Charles-Quint 
k Joseph II.,” p, 33. Bruxelles, 1882. “ As we look at Philip with more impar¬ 
tial eyes,” says an historian whose investigations have thrown light upon his 
policy, but whose portrait of him will bear darker shading, “ the figure comes 
out before us of a painstaking, laborious man, prejudiced, narrow-minded, super¬ 
stitious, with a conceit of his own abilities not uncommon in crowned heads, 
and frequently with less justification, but conscientious from his own point of 
view, and not without thefeelings of a gentleman.” J. A. Froude in the “ Nine¬ 
teenth Century,” No. 74, April, 1883, pp. 637, 638. 



ISABELLA AT THE STUDIO OF RUBENS, 


445 

























1599 - 


Famoits Dutch Explorers, 


447 


the first attempt had been made in this direction in 1594. 
The northern passage was also favored as avoiding conflicts 
with the Spaniards, who controlled the southern route. Wil¬ 
liam Barendz, a sturdy captain who took part in this expe¬ 
dition, perished two years later in a third effort to reach 
China by the perilous northeast passage; but his companion, 
who went out as supercargo and commissioner for the Amster¬ 
dam merchants, lived to become a famous naval commander 
against Spain. His name was Jacob Heemskerk. Mean¬ 
while other Dutch navigators pressed forward in the regular 
track of East India commerce. The brothers Houtmann 
organized an expedition in the year 1595, which doubled 
the Cape of Good Hope, and contested with the Portu¬ 
guese for a share of the profitable spice trade. Another expe¬ 
dition to Patagonia established, on the desolate island of 
'Perra del Fuego, or Fire Land, the order of Knights of the 
Unchained Lion, to maintain the spirit of patriotism, and to 
resist the power of Spain on the shores whence it had ob¬ 
tained the means of oppressing the Netherlands. 

While the Archduke Albert was away for his wedding, 
which took place at Valencia, in Spain, on the i8th of April, 
1599, the Admiral of Arragon, Francis de Mendoza, whom 
he had left in command of the army, invaded the neighboring 
German duchies of Cleves and Juliers with a force of twenty- 
five thousand men, obliging Maurice of Nassau, who had 
only seventy-five hundred, to defend the frontiers of the 
United Provinces. The young general showed great skill in 
baffling his opponent, who revenged himself by ruthless out¬ 
rages upon neutral territory, in defiance of the Emperor 
Rudolph and the German princes. At last the admiral took 
one fort and built another within the limits of the republic, 
which, weakened by heavy taxation and the loss of its Span¬ 
ish trade, was in no condition to enter upon a new cam¬ 
paign. A Dutch naval expedition under Admiral Van der 


44 ^ History of the Netherlands, 

Does, against the Canary Islands and the South American 
possessions of Spain, burned and pillaged towns and villages ; 
but disease swept off most of the officers and crew, including 
the admiral and his successor in command of the ill-fated 
fleet. 

The Archduke Albert had returned to Brussels, Sept. 6, 
1599, accompanied by his bride. They were welcomed with 
gay festivities, and swore to maintain the liberties of the prov¬ 
inces. In honor of the occasion, the Prince of Orange and 
several other grandees were made Knights of the Golden 
Fleece. But nobles and people resented the exactions of the 
unpaid Spanish soldiery, and their discontent was increased 
by the extravagance of the new rulers, who held court in 
sumptuous style. Profiting by disorders in the enemy’s 
camp. Prince Maurice captured, early in the year 1600, 
the two forts so lately in their hands, and won over the 
Walloon garrisons, whose ragged appearance led the Hol¬ 
landers to call them the New Beggars.” These troops 
were placed under the honorary command of the youthful 
Frederick Henry, a half-brother of Maurice. As Queen 
Elizabeth had sent an. envoy to the government of the Span¬ 
ish Netherlands, the Dutch feared she would yield to the 
appeals of Spain, and surrender their towns, which she held 
as security for her advances. She, in turn, was anxious lest 
the United Provinces should make peace without her con¬ 
sent. But the result showed that neither party was ready 
to sacrifice the common cause to the demands of the 
archdukes. 


CHAPTER XXVIII. 


THE BATTLE OF NIEUPORT. 

The feeling that a great victory was needed to sustain their 
cause led the states-general of the republic to resolve, early in 
June, 1600, upon an invasion of the obedient Netherlands. 
The province of Groningen, which was largely Catholic, had 
for three years refused to pay its war taxes, and the military 
had lately been used to collect them. People were becoming 
weary of defensive warfare, and the Zealanders especially had 
suffered so much from the pirates of Dunkirk that they urged 
the capture of that den of robbers. In the mutinous condi¬ 
tion of the enemy’s forces, it was thought that Flanders could 
be easily subdued, and the recovery of the rest of the Spanish 
Netherlands assured. So caution gave way to rashness in 
the counsels of the states-general. 

Their project was condemned by the best judges. William 
Louis of Nassau strongly opposed it as risking on a single 
desperate venture all that had been slowly gained, and his 
views were shared by Maurice and Sir Francis Vere. But 
as Barneveld, who controlled the states-general, insisted on 
his cherished plan, Maurice irresolutely yielded. A force 
of twelve thousand infantry and sixteen hundred cavalry — 
Dutch, British, German, Swiss, French, and Walloon — was 
accordingly embarked from the neighborhood of Flushing 
for the strong little city of Nieuport. But the wind proving 
unfavorable, the soldiers were landed forty miles away, and the 
vessels sailed on to meet them. The roads were so bad that 


29 


450 Histoiy of the Netherlands. 

it took the troops thirteen days to reach the goal, on the ist 
of July, 1600. 

Alarmed by the unexpected appearance of the enemy in 
Flanders, the archdukes appealed to their mutinous soldiers 
with such success that they joined the army, which was soon 
as large as that of the states. The troops heartily greeted 
Albert and Isabella, as they reviewed them by the walls of 
Ghent, and inspired hopes of glorious victory over the 
heretics. The Infanta, whose robes glittered with gems, rode 
a beautiful white palfrey. She exhorted the mutineers to 
serve God and their prince, and promised, if money did not 
come from Spain, to sell her jewels and plate to pay them. 
Under skilled leaders the army marched toward the camp of 
the invaders, capturing the forts protecting their position, and 
butchering the garrisons in spite of the orders of the Arch¬ 
duke Albert. 

These startling exploits obliged Maurice of Nassau to aban¬ 
don the siege of Nieuport and prepare for a desperate 
battle with the enemy. As the main body of his troops 
were on the other side of the harbor, he resolved to cross at 
low-tide and join them. Against the advice of Sir Francis 
Vere, he had sent his cousin, Ernest Casimir, to hold the 
bridge at Leffingen till the passage was over, instead of ad¬ 
vancing himself to meet the foe. He had also ordered a 
troop of cavalry from Ostend to aid his cousin; but the mes¬ 
sage did not arrive in season. Finding the bridge in the 
enemy’s hands, the gallant Ernest, in order to protect Mau¬ 
rice’s army, ranged his two thousand men in the path of the 
archduke’s forces, which outnumbered his six to one. He 
knew that he should be swept away; but he was confident of 
breasting the assault till the main army should reach a place 
of safety. But hardly had the gunners fired a few effective 
rounds than his troops were panic-stricken at the onset of the 
overwhelming masses of the enemy. They fled, and were 


i6oo. 


The Archduke Albert at Nieuport, 


451 


slaughtered like sheep. The archduke sent a messenger to 
Isabella with the joyful news, and the assurance that Maurice 
would soon follow as a prisoner. 

Yielding to the pressure of his ardent officers and men, but 
against the advice of the veteran Spanish general Zapena, 
who favored delay for rest and reinforcements, Albert resolved 
to push on against the stadtholder. The sight of vessels leav¬ 
ing Nieuport led the army to believe that he was already try¬ 
ing to escape. His troops had at last reached the beach in 
safety, after marching breast-high through the water. Soon 
Maurice learned the terrible news of the defeat of Ernest, 
whose firmness had saved his own army from destruction, 
and the approach of the triumphant foe. Without consulting 
any of his officers, he ordered all the vessels of his great fleet 
to put to sea. He had resolved to leave no chance of escape, 
to conquer the enemy or die. Sir Francis Vere, who knew 
nothing of the slaughter of Ernest’s force, advised throwing 
up intrenchments to resist the advance of the foe. But 
Maurice told him that pike and arquebus would be the only 
defences that day. He should cut his way through the 
enemy’s ranks to Ostend, or perish in the attempt, and he 
wanted to advance before the news of Ernest’s disaster should 
arrive to depress the spirits of the troops. 

Soon the Spanish army was in full view. In the centre 
rode the archduke, clad in rich Milan armor, on a superb 
snow-white steed. He had laid aside his helmet, in order 
that he might be more easily recognized by his soldiers as he 
encouraged them in the fray. The deputies of the states- 
general at Ostend, who had vainly urged the cavalry to succor 
Ernest, could not induce them to resist the march of the vic¬ 
tors from whom they had fled a few hours before. 

With desperate resolve, Maurice awaited the onset. 
Sheathed in complete mail, with the rich orange plumes of 
his family in his helmet, and the bright orange scarf across 


452 History of the Netherlands. 

his breast, he rode sword in hand through the lines, inspirit¬ 
ing his men. There was no choice for them now, he declared, 
but to vanquish the Spanish army, or to be butchered, or 
driven into the sea. His appeals were answered by the 
enthusiastic shouts of his troops, eager to advance against the 
enemy. There was a precious young life in their keeping; 
Frederick Henry, the youthful son of William the Silent, 
whom his brother Maurice would gladly have kept from the 
perils of that day, had begged so earnestly to take part in the 
contest that the stadtholder consented, and provided him 
with a complete suit of armor. It was the first battle of the 
boy who was destined to win glorious triumphs for his coun¬ 
try in peace and war. With him rode the youthful French 
Count of Chatillon, like himself a grandson of the martyred 
Admiral Coligny. 

The warm July sun was shining brightly on the sandy hil¬ 
locks and luxuriant meadows that stretched behind the beach, 
upon which the waters of the German Ocean tossed close 
to the two armies. On the summit of the sand-hills the 
stadtholder had planted his batteries, and in the hollows con¬ 
cealed numbers of pikemen and musketeers. 

The action began on Sunday afternoon, the 2d of July, 
1600, by a premature cannonade upon the Spanish cavalry, 
which defeated Maurice’s original plan of luring the advance- 
guard of the enemy toward the battery and the ambushed 
musketeers. Soon the two armies were fighting knee-deep in 
the hot sand : there were desperate charges and counter¬ 
charges, fierce hand-to-hand encounters on a narrow strip of 
land where scientific evolutions were impossible. At last the 
army of the states, repulsed in a furious assault upon their 
opponents, broke into a flight. Pursued by the enemy, in 
hot haste they swept toward Maurice, who sat on his horse 
gazing on what seemed the death-blow of the republic. With 
undaunted courage the stadtholder checked the troops in 



THE ARCHDUKE ALBERT AT NIEUPORT, 














i6oo. Maurices Heroic Self-Command, 455 

their wild flight, and with three squadrons of reserved cavalry 
advanced against the triumphant foe. He entreated the 
fugitives to rally to his support for love- of him, and show 
that they were men of honor. 1 His appeals were successful: 
the Spaniards, overcome by his heroic bearing, stopped in 
their career of victory. It was a fatal mistake. 

With the quick glance of genius, Maurice saw the turn¬ 
ing-point of the battle, and despatched his cavalry against 
the enemy’s infantry, near the battery. The charge of these 
iron-clad troopers on their heavy horses was irresistible. 
The foe fell back to the sandhills, but were driven off by 
the Frisian pikemen, who had rallied on beholding the suc¬ 
cessful onset of the cavalry. At this critical moment the 
Zealand sailors, who had clung to the battery through the 
fight, obeyed orders to fire upon the dispirited Spaniards. 

While they were staggering under this unexpected attack, 
Maurice ordered his little body of cavalry to charge. This 
last resolute assault was decisive. The enemy fled in wild 
confusion, and the retreating patriots now turned in pursuit 
of them. With shouts of victory the army of Maurice swept 
the Spaniards from the field which was so recently their own. 
The stadtholder’s skill and self-command had changed the 
defeat into a victory. Among his prisoners was the Admiral 
of Arragon, whom he entertained hospitably ; while the arch¬ 
duke himself, who had fought with heroic valor, narrowly 
escaped capture. His beautiful white charger fell into the 
hands of Prince Maurice. When the victory was assured, 
the stadtholder knelt on the sand in humble thanksgiving to 
the God of battles. 


1 These are the very words used by Maurice, according to the letter of his 
cousin, the cavalry commander, Louis Gunther, describing the battle, and 
attributing the victory to the stadtholder’s heroic self-command. Archives de 
la Maison d’Orange-Nassau,” ae serie, tom. ii. p 32. The prince himself mod¬ 
estly ascribed the triumph to the grace of God. 


45 6 History of the Netherlands. 

The Spanish mutineers had suffered terribly in the con¬ 
test, and the total loss of the archduke in killed was one 
half more than that of Maurice, which, including the 
slaughter of Ernest’s force at Leffingen, amounted to two 
thousand; artillery, standards and six hundred prisoners 
swelling the triumph of the republic. The patriots had 
the advantage of sun and wind at their backs, while their 
enemies were exposed to a blinding glare, and to clouds of 
smoke and dust. The Zealand sailors placed their field- 
pieces on planks to prevent their sinking into the sand, as 
the archduke’s did after every discharge. The gallant Vere 
led the van of the contest, and, though twice shot through 
the leg, fought till his horse was killed, when he was rescued 
from beneath the animal’s body, and borne off the field by 
his servant and another countryman. Sir Robert Drury. 

The captured Admiral of Arragon, whom Maurice had 
bantered upon being able to gratify his wish to see Holland, 
and that too without striking a blow, frankly expressed his 
views of the battle. He attributed the stadtholder’s success 
to his system of small battalions, the management of his 
artillery, the valor of the French cuirassiers, who formed a 
part of the cavalry under Count Solms, and the intrepidity of 
the “ New Beggars.” The archduke’s imprudence in engag¬ 
ing his whole force was contrasted with the prince’s reliance 
on his reserves, and the spirit infused into his army by send¬ 
ing away his ships. 

Sir Francis Vere, with his English and Frisian troops, and 
Louis Gunther and Count Ernest of Nassau, did much to 
achieve the triumph, which was rendered possible by the 
archduke’s neglect to rest and reinforce his army before 
attacking fresh forces, and the superiority of the republican 
cavalry. But despite the splendor of the victory, it came too 
late to accomplish the object of the expedition : Nieuport 
remained in the hands of the enemy. The republic, however, 


i6oo. The Nassaus' Family Affection. 457 

gained great renown by the achievement, which Queen 
Elizabeth mistakenly credited to the wisdom of the states- 
general, who had endangered the national existence by their 
rashness. Philip William of Orange had prayed for his 
brother’s victory at Nieuport, fearing that, if the archduke 
should triumph, Maurice and Frederick Henry would be 
sent, bound hand and foot, as prisoners to Spain. Though 
within the enemy’s walls, the eldest son of William the Silent 
shared the family affection which had led Maurice to leave 
him in possession of his hereditary estates.^ 


1 This affection is touchingly shown in a letter from the unfortunate prince 
on his return from his Spanish captivity to his uncle, Count John of Nassau. 
After referring to his visits to other relatives, he adds, “ I leave you to think 
how much we are rejoiced to be together after so long a separation.” “Ar¬ 
chives de la Maison d’Orange-Nassau,” tp serie, tom. i. p. 376. 


CHAPTER XXIX. 


THE SIEGE OF OSTEND. 

Renewed efforts were now made by the government of the 
obedient provinces for peace; but the states-general of the 
republic, though receiving their deputies, would not humiliate 
themselves by recognizing the authority of the archdukes. 
So the long war went on. Cruisers from Dunkirk, under the 
command of Vice-Admiral Van der Waecken, preyed upon 
the Dutch fishermen, who were mostly members of a religious 
sect of non-resistants called Mennonites. Some of their ves¬ 
sels were taken and their crews executed. The cruelties of 
these privateersmen incited retaliation. To avenge their out¬ 
rages a powerful craft, styled the Black Galley of Dort,” 
captured under the Walls of Antwerp a heavily armed man 
of war and several other vessels. As the sturdy Hollanders 
towed their prizes out of the harbor, the trumpets played St. 
Aldegonde’s famous air, ‘^William of Nassau.” 

But the archdukes were now to exhibit unexpected re¬ 
sources in the longest siege of the great Netherland conflict, 
and which was compared by contemporary historians to that 
of ancient Troy. It was directed against Ostend, or East- 
end, — the last place held by the republic in Flanders. The 
states of this province had appealed to Albert to free them 
from this constant menace to their sea-coast, and offered to 
contribute heavily to the expense of its capture. 

Ostend, which is now a fashionable summer watering-place, 
was then a fishing-village of about three thousand inhabitants. 



OSTEND. 459 


















































































i6oi. The Defences of Ostend. 461 

The ramparts extended for three miles around the place, 
and were guarded by numerous outworks. On the site of 
the old harbor, which had been choked up by sand, Ostend 
was protected by a number of strong outworks, the chief of 
which were called the Sand-Hill, the Porcupine, and Hell’s 
Mouth. The new harbor, which was known as the Gullet, 
was defended by a crescent-shaped structure styled the 
Spanish Half-moon. 

When the archduke began the siege, July 5, 1601, he had 
about twenty thousand troops. His principal officers were 
Count Frederick van den Berg, cousin of Maurice of Nassau, 
Count Bucquoi-Longueval, a Walloon, the archduke’s chief 
of artillery, and Don Augustine de Mexia, governor of Ant¬ 
werp. To defend the rest of Flanders from forays from 
Ostend, the archduke had built eighteen fortresses; the 
principal being St. Albert, St. Isabella, St. Clara, and Great 
Thirst. 

The states-general of the republic vainly urged Maurice of 
Nassau to divert the archduke. from Ostend by making an¬ 
other raid in Flanders. In the course of the summer of 
1601 he captured Rheinberg and Meurs on the Rhine, and 
would have taken Bois-le-Duc in November, had not threat¬ 
ened danger to Holland compelled the abandonment of the 
siege. A combat in the old chivalric form varied the usual 
military operations here. One Breaute, a Norman gen¬ 
tleman in the states’ service, challenged the garrison to 
send out a leader with twenty men to meet an equal num¬ 
ber under his command. A Fleming named Abramzoon, 
who was familiarly called Leckerbeetje, or Tit-bit, accepted 
the challenge. He was killed at the first onset by his 
Norman antagonist, who was then treacherously despatched, 
as was said, in Holation of the rules of the encounter. Only 
one half of the combatants lived to tell of this desperate 
passage-at-arms. 


462 


History of the Netherlands, 


Sir Francis Vere, who commanded the seven or eight 
thousand troops in Ostend, was a handsome, stalwart Eng¬ 
lishman of the family of the ancient Earls of Oxford. A 
favorite of Queen Elizabeth, he was on bad terms with the 
Nassaus from the sturdy manner in which he maintained his 
own and his sovereign’s claims.^ Yet he had done good ser¬ 
vice for the states in peace and war, and had been knighted 
by the queen for his bravery in the defence of Sluys and 
Bergen-op-Zoom. The gallant commander was now forty- 
seven years of age. His face was dark from exposure to the 
elements; he had a broad forehead, large bright eyes, and 
full brown beard, and wore a point-lace ruffle, and a breast¬ 
plate of Milan armor inlaid with gold. 

Queen Elizabeth was also represented, at Ostend by some 
two thousand private soldiers in the pay of the states, large 
additions being afterward made. There were about the same 
number 'of Dutch, Flemings, Frenchmen, and Germans. 

The fifty siege guns which the archduke brought to bear 
upon Ostend during the summer, caused a good deal of de¬ 
struction. But the erection of batteries at the new harbor, 
which were built on great baskets of wicker-work sunk in the 
sand and called sausages, was interrupted by a cannonade 

1 This obstinate independence is shown in Vere’s account of the battle of 
Nieuport; and it made Count William Louis of Nassau write to Maurice, dur¬ 
ing the siege of Ostend, that the gallant Englishman was an old and a good 
colonel, but that he would have to go to school if he wished to become a general. 
“Archives de la Maison d’Orange-Nassau,” ae serie, tom. ii. p. no. Vere’s 
discontent with the states led the British government to lay his complaints be¬ 
fore them ; but being dissatisfied with their answer, he resigned his command in 
February, 1603. He returned to the service as governor of Brill, in November, 
1605, King James writing to the council of state and to Maurice in his favor. 
He died in 1609, at the age of fifty-four, and was buried in Westminster Abbey, 
a striking monument being erected over his remains. The relations of Sir Fran¬ 
cis Vere with the Dutch government, to which his brother Horace also rendered 
useful military service, and in which his brother Robert was killed, are set forth 
in the collection of State Papers known as “ Winwood’s Memorials,” in three 
volumes, folio. London, 1725. 



MARKET SQUARE, LILLE. 











































































i6oi. Vere s Methods of Warfare, 465 

from the Half-moon batter}^, and by the inroads of the stormy 
ocean. Thus vessels ran safely to Ostend and provisions were 
very cheap. All summer and winter the firing went on, and 
it is said the roar of the great guns was sometimes heard in 
London. Yet the besieged speedily repaired the injuries to 
the walls and repelled the storming-parties. Many officers 
of note were killed. The archdukes frequently came over 
from Nieuport in great style, and Isabella cheered the gun¬ 
ners by touching off the pieces with her royal fingers. She 
was discontented when the firing slackened. 

All the resources of strategic and engineering skill were 
employed at the siege of Ostend. Yet the most ambitious of 
these were the least successful. Pompey Targone, a famous 
Italian engineer, contrived a great floating-battery to close 
the Gullet, and a fortress on wheels, with a drawbridge, to 
span the passage and crush its defences; but the battery 
was swept away by the ocean, and the huge fortified chariot 
broke down before reaching its destination. The property 
of citizens was at the mercy of the English soldiers, to 
whom Sir Francis Vere gave the customary license against 
non-combatants. When the outer fortifications were shat¬ 
tered and the garrison were about to retire into the city, he 
prevented the enemy’s assault by negotiations for surrender, 
which he broke off on the arrival of the Dutch fleet. This 
stratagem, though sanctioned by his council of war, was, as 
appears by Maurice of Nassau’s letter, generally considered 
discreditable. The wily Vere met night attacks of the enemy 
by lighting great bonfires, which exposed them to the deadly 
aim of cannon and musketry and to the assaults of pike and 
dagger and blazing pitch-hoops, the luckless survivors being 
•swept off by floods from opened sluices. In a single assault 
two thousand besiegers perished, while the garrison lost but 
sixty men. 

Despite this terrible slaughter and the fearful ravages of the 
30 


466 History of the Netherlands. 

pestilence, which was even more destructive in the hostile 
camps, the wintry cold and storms, and the mutiny of his 
suffering troops, the archduke refused to abandon the siege. 
While he brought his approaches nearer to the town, the in¬ 
habitants repaired the damage from his artillery, and covered 
the thatched roofs of the houses with sods as a protection 
against red-hot shot. In March, 1602, the states-general 
placed a fresh garrison in Ostend under the command of a 
tough Zealand colonel, Frederick van Dorp, Sir Francis Vere, 
after nine months’ service in the town, being sent to join 
Maurice in the field. 

The archduke was now obliged to despatch a large force 
to watch his active foe, and his army was further weakened 
by the mutiny, which soon assumed formidable proportions. 
Thirty-five hundred veteran soldiers seized, the city of Hoog- 
straaten, and preyed on the surrounding country, though 
preserving strict discipline in their camp under their chosen 
Eletto,” the chief of this “ Italian republic.” To appease 
them, the archduke dismissed the Admiral of Arragon, their 
late commander, whose severity had made him very unpop¬ 
ular. Since his capture at the battle of Nieuport, he had 
been released on condition of securing -the discharge of all 
prisoners in Spanish hands. Attempts to negotiate with the 
mutineers having failed, Albert imprudently offered rewards 
for their heads as outlaws and accursed. The ban was for¬ 
mally answered by the rebel chiefs, who justified the mutiny 
by their need of food and clothing. They reproached the 
archdukes with their luxurious style of living, and ridiculed 
the attempt to crush, by a paper manifesto, warriors able to 
destroy any troops sent to enforce it. The government of 
the United Provinces granted the mutineers a refuge in case 
of need. 

While these events were taking place in the Netherlands, 
the Dutch were fighting for their growing commerce in the 













i6o2. Dutch Oriental Triumphs, 469 

Indian Seas. Early in the year 1602, a plain captain, named 
Wolfert Hermann, with five little trading-vessels, or galliots, 
beat off a Portuguese fleet of twenty-five ships under Admiral 
Mendoza, and thus saved the King of Bantam, in the island 
of Java, from punishment for dealing with the Dutch. The 
Spaniards had represented that they and the Portuguese were 
the only white men in Europe, and that the new-comers were 
pirates. The Arctic explorer, Jacob Heemskerk, with two 
small galliots, captured a great carack loaded with spices and 
jewels, and carrying seventeen guns and seven hundred men. 
These exploits spread the fame of the sturdy Hollanders 
along the Indian and Chinese coasts. Treaties were made 
with some of the Oriental sovereigns, and the King of Achem 
in Sumatra sent two ambassadors to the republic. They were 
hospitably received by Maurice of Nassau in his camp before 
the city of Grave, which surrendered Sept. 18, 1602, after a 
two months’ siege. Only one of the dusky envoys lived to 
return home; but his glowing accounts of the power of the 
United Provinces were of much benefit to their commerce in 
the East. Before long, all their trading companies in that 
region were united in one general East India Company, in 
order to avoid injurious rivalries and more efficiently breast 
the might of Spain. The charter conferring exclusive right 
to this company for twenty-one years was granted by the 
states-general, March 20, 1602. It fixed the capital of the 
company at ^3,300,000, one half of which was furnished by 
Amsterdam. Authority to make treaties with the princes of 
India in the name of the states, to raise troops, and erect 
forts, was conferred upon this great corporation, which was 
destined to wield immense power, and, while enriching the 
republic, to excite the jealousy of other nations. 

On the 24th of March, 1603, Queen Elizabeth of England 
died. This event excited much sorrow and anxiety in the 
states; for, despite her shifting and niggardly policy, she had 


470 


History of the Netherlands. 


done them good service, and they had reason to fear the 
enmity of her successor, James I. Modern research has 
stripped Elizabeth of some of the great qualities which she 
was long credited with. It is known that her public and 
private character was steeped in artifice, that she was defi¬ 
cient in deep convictions and generous sympathies, either 
political or religious, and that the true glory of her reign was 
due to her people and her ministers. She succeeded because 
her time-serving policy was suited to her own powers and to 
the uncertainties of her position as a ruler. Her weak points, 
particularly her parsimony and hesitation towards the Nether¬ 
lands, were useful in avoiding dangers to her throne from her 
Catholic subjects and their foreign sympathizers who sustained 
the cause of Mary Queen of Scots, and from French as well 
as Spanish hostility. Her hard business tact carried her 
safely through crises provoked by her crooked policy. 

More fortunate in this respect than Philip 11 ., delays were 
advantageous to her cause; for England, though a small power, 
had the spirit of the age on its side, and the United Provinces 
to stand at a time of extreme peril on guard against its over¬ 
throw. William of Orange was for years the bulwark of Eliz¬ 
abeth’s throne. Yet she deserves credit for her wise choice 
of advisers, and for the steadfastness with which she pursued 
the course for which she was best fitted. There was a vein 
of kindness in the coarse nature of the vain and coquettish 
queen, as her offer to adopt the daughters of the martyred 
Orange proved. Though students of her life and character 
can never regard her as the ‘^Good Queen Bess ” of her sub¬ 
jects, who knew nothing of her state-craft, yet despite her 
follies, trickeries, and errors, the woman who never flinched 
from the dangers that threatened her life and throne, who 
inspired her enemies with dread and her people with respect 
and affection, who ruled instead of being ruled by her able 
ministers, and who made peace at home the means of 


1603. Desperate Defence of Ostend. 471 

strengthening the national power abroad, must always be 
regarded as a great sovereign.^ 

Meanwhile the siege of Ostend continued to be the event 
of the war. Though the Spanish batteries drew nearer and 
nearer to the town, they could not prevent the bold Hollanders 
from dashing through the Gullet with cargoes of provisions. 
A daring Frenchman named De Boisse ventured out with a 
floating infernal-machine to burn the dyke of wicker-work 
intended to block their passage. He succeeded in fastening 
his “ hell-burner ” to the dyke, and escaped to Ostend amid 
a storm of bullets. But a native of Brussels named John van 
den Berg, by a similar deed of daring, contrived to detach the 
dangerous machine from the dyke, though not till it had 
done a good deal of damage. The old harbor of Ostend 
was now undermined by the besiegers, who were met in 
deadly conflict in their underground passages by the des¬ 
perate besieged. The workmen in the new harbor, which 
was designed to take the place of the old in case of need, 
suffered terribly from the enemy’s fire. In the lowlands 
about the town, sentinels stood day and night in the icy 
water, till the rising waves forced them to swim for their 
lives. Death was the penalty for deserting the dangerous 
post before high-tide; not till then was it safe to cease 
watching for the approach of the sleepless foe. 

Early in April, 1603, a fierce night-assault was made upon 

1 “The great results of Elizabeth’s reign,” says Froude, “were the fruits of 
a policy which was not her own, and which she starved and mutilated when en¬ 
ergy and completeness were needed. . . . Obligations of honor were not only 
occasionally forgotten by her, but she did not seem to understand what honor 
meant.” “ History of England,” vol. xii. p. 559. London, 1870. “Whatever 
enthusiasm the heroic struggle of the Prince of Orange for Netherland liberties 
excited among her subjects, it failed to move Elizabeth even for an instant from 
the path of cold self-interest. . . . To her the steady refusal of William the 
Silent to sacrifice his faith was as unintelligible as the steady bigotry of Philip 
in demanding such a sacrifice.” Green, “History of the English People,” 
vol. ii. p. 402. London, 1878. 


472 


History of the Netherlands, 


part of the fortifications of Ostend, as a cover for a more 
sweeping assault, the Spaniards scaling works deemed impreg¬ 
nable, by means of rope ladders, with their swords in their 
teeth. Thus the very outworks which Vere’s artifice had 
saved from the enemy ^ fell before their strategy and prowess. 
All night the Hollanders fought to recapture the works, but 
in vain. At daybreak the victors killed all their prisoners 
and turned the guns of the conquered forts against the main 
defences of the town. Fifteen hundred men had perished 
in these desperate engagements. And yet the besieged held 
bravely on. * 

1 As the siege of Ostend attracted great attention throughout Europe, and 
was the school of the young nobility in the art of war, the news of Vere’s nego¬ 
tiations for peace (ante, p. 465) was a puzzling sensation. The English diplo¬ 
matist Winwood thus wrote to his government about its effect in Paris : “ The 
late remarkable accident of Ostend did minister here very strange discourses. 
In fact it was reported, (and that in the best Places) that Sir Francis Vere had 
sold the town to the archduke for 200,000 crowns. Then that the capitulation 
was made by commandrhent from her Majesty who was resolved to make her 
peace upon these terms : That she would deliver Ostend and Flushing to the 
archduke and that the king of Spain should retire his forces from Ireland and 
pay unto her those sums of money which the king doth owe her.” — Winwood 
to Cecil, Jan. 6, 1601: “ Wmwood’s Memorials,” vol. i. p. 371. 


CHAPTER XXX. 


THE TWO SPINOLAS. 

Meantime the archduke’s cause had been aided by a mem¬ 
ber of a family that was destined to perform some of the most 
brilliant operations of the war. Frederick Spinola, a wealthy 
Genoese, having been appointed an admiral in the Spanish 
service, had preyed upon small Dutch craft with a few galleys 
from Sluys. Encouraged by his success, he obtained eight 
large vessels of this class from the government of Philip III., 
fitting them out at his own expense, on condition of re¬ 
taining all the profits of his ventures. Six of these vessels 
had been shattered and sunk in an encounter with a Dutch 
fleet of war-galliots, under Vice Admiral Kant, early in Octo¬ 
ber, 1602. These iron-pro wed craft, with a favoring breeze, 
crashed into the great galleys, which were designed for use in 
a calm; the rowers, chained helplessly together, sinking with 
the vessels, or being torn to pieces by the enemy’s guns. 
The Dutch were the more pleased with their triumph as these 
were the very galleys on which their countrymen, seized in 
Spanish ports three years before, had been forced to work 
as slaves. 

But Spinola was not daunted by this defeat. The last of 
May, 1603, he sallied forth from Sluys, with eight new galleys 
and four smaller vessels. There being a dead calm, the great 
galleys, each rowed by two hundred and fifty men in the 
chain-gang, and bristling with thirteen hundred soldiers, bore 
down with tremendous force upon the four small Dutch gal- 


474 History of the Netherlands. 

Hots of Admiral Joost de Moor, who had only thirty-six mus¬ 
keteers in his whole fleet. He was fortunate, however, in 
being aided by a noted vessel called the “ Black Galley of 
Zealand,” which beat off two of the assailants, the end of 
whose sharp iron prows were left in her tough hull. The 
galliots were also defended with great bravery, and the enemy 
were repelled in their attempts to board, and raked by can¬ 
non and musketry, which did fearful execution on their 
crowded decks. A breeze springing up deprived the Span¬ 
iards of the advantage of quickly shifting their position about 
the becalmed galliots. Soldiers from Ostend were no match 
on the wind-swept sea for Zealand sailors. The great galleys 
were so damaged by the cannonade that they were obliged 
to retreat to Sluys, with a loss of hundreds of men. The gal¬ 
lant Spinola himself, whose brilliant armor made him a shin¬ 
ing mark for the enemy’s fire, was torn to pieces by a stone 
gun on the Black Galley.” ^ The loss of the nationalists was 
small, the Zealand galley suffering most, — Captain Michel- 
zoon, eleven of his officers, and fifteen men being killed. 
Though the daring Genoese had lost his life at the age of thirty- 
two, in contending against veteran naval commanders, his 
elder brother was soon to show that genius and study may 
more than offset the lack of practical experience in war. 

Sluys now ceased to send out galleys to waylay vessels 

1 Count Ernest Casimir, narrating the contest, calls the unfortunate Spinola 
a wise captain as well as a brave and enterprising soldier. He adds that the 
enemy will be crippled not only by the damage done to the vessels, but by the 
loss of their galley-slaves, unless some can be brought from Spain or Italy, as 
there are none to be had in the provinces. “ Archives de la Maison d’Orange- 
Nassau,” ae serie, tom ii. p. 194. The English commandant at Flushing thus 
refers to the affair: “ There were 1,300 soldiers in the galleys, very gallant and 
well appointed, and courageously disposed at their going out; but at their return 
my drummer saw them pass through the Sluce drooping, and the Italians crying 
pitifully, and some tearing their hair off their head and beards ; this I write not 
idly, but as my drummer saw it.” Sir William Browne to Sir Robert Sydney, 
May 20, 1603; “ Sydney’s State Papers,” vol. ii. p. 272. 



DUKE OF SULLY. 


475 







1603. 


yames /. of England, 


477 


from Ostend; but, a sloop being captured by the besiegers, 
twelve wounded soldiers on board were executed by the 
archduke’s orders, on the ground that the laws of war applied 
only on land. Maurice showed his contempt for this distinc¬ 
tion by hanging an equal number of Spanish captives, and 
threatening to double the proportion if the rule were again 
enforced. This action proved effective. 

In spite of the ban of the archduke, the King of Spain, and 
the pope, the great mutiny, now embracing five thousand vet¬ 
erans, continued to be a source of weakness to the enemy 
and of strength to Maurice, who was enthusiastically received 
in their camp, and made an offensive and defensive alliance 
with them. 

On the death of Queen Elizabeth of England, John of 
Bameveld, Prince Frederick Henry, and other envoys had 
been sent by the government of the United Provinces to the 
court of her successor, James I., to request his aid against 
Spain. The new king was a timid, narrow-minded man, 
whose natural shrewdness was dwarfed by his learned conceit, 
and whose vulgar manners matched his ungainly person. 
Henry IV. of France called him the wisest fool in Christen¬ 
dom. His pacific disposition and dread of republicanism 
led him to slight the appeals of the Dutch representatives. 
Bameveld’s next efforts were to secure aid from France, 
whose ambassador, the Marquis of Rosny, afterward Duke of 
Sully, arrived in England in grand style on the T5th of June, 
1603. To him the republican commissioner gave a pitiable 
account of the desperate condition of his country. De Rosny 
thought this exaggerated for effect; but Dutch distress was 
certainly great. The people were weary of heavy taxes, and 
the terrible destruction of life caused by the great siege, 
which had already dragged on for two years. Though the 
states tried to cheer them by reports of triumphs in the In¬ 
dies, these remote, and as some thought imaginary, successes 


478 


History of the Netherlands. 


could not allay suffering at home. It had been found neces¬ 
sary to conceal from departing troops that their destination 
was the huge slaughter-pen at Ostend.^ 

France was naturally unwilling to risk war with Spain on 
behalf of the United Provinces without knowing how England 
would act. Barneveld insisted that a French army was the 
only hope for saving Ostend and the republic. At last De 
Rosny induced King James to agree to a French alliance for 
the protection of the provinces. But as this treaty of June 
25, 1603, provided only for secret or indirect aid to them, 
unless Philip should compel hostilities by attacking the allies, 
the British king left the door open for his favorite peace 
policy. Hence, though the shrewd French diplomatist 
tempted the leading English courtiers with presents and 
promises to support his sovereign’s cause, this customary sort 
of persuasion proved of little value. 

An important change was now made in the operations 
against Ostend. To hasten the seemingly endless siege, the 
Spanish government gave command of the royal forces to the 
elder brother of the unfortunate Frederick Spinola, who 

1 Stern, “ Histoire des Commencements de la Republique aux Pays-Bas, ” 
p. 293. Paris, 1873. These facts have not been mentioned by English and 
American historians of the N ether lands, yet they are essential to an understand¬ 
ing of the course of the negotiations with France and England at this period, 
It was a wonder to foreign diplomatists that the republic had held out so long. 
Eighteen months before, Buzanval, the ambassador of Henry IV. at the Hague, 
expected its sudden collapse. He compared it to a bankrupt merchant living 
on credit, and to a wasted lamp, whose last flash is its brightest. The disunion 
tendencies of the provinces, the sacrifice of public to private interests, increased 
the dangers of the country, whose only strength lay in the weakness of its ene¬ 
mies. Winwood to Cecil, Dec. i, 1601; “ VVinwood’s Memorials,” vol. i. p. 363. 
Barneveld’s pressing appeals are narrated in “ Memoirs of Sully,” vol. iii. pp. 62, 
III. Philadelphia, 1817. The policy of Henry IV. to keep Spain and England 
at variance was to prevent them from sacrificing the United Provinces, and was 
in the interests not of France merely, but of Europe. See the important letters 
of the king and his envoy : “Archives de la Maison d’Orange-Nassau,” 2s serie, 
tom. ii. pp. 205, 224, 226. 


1603. 


The Marquis Spinola. 


479 


agreed to aid them with a large sum of money. Ambrose 
Spinola, Marquis of Venafri, who thus assumed a very diffi¬ 
cult position, was a handsome, thoughtful-looking man of 
thirty-four, with light hair and beard. He had been finely 
educated, was skilled in athletic exercises, and joined to gen¬ 
eral literary culture a special knowledge of mathematics and 
fortifications. Having done some service in Genoese politics, 
the influence of his brother Frederick had excited his warlike 
ardor. The Spinolas had been enriched by Oriental com¬ 
merce, and, though Ambrose was without practical experience 
in war, the archdukes had great confidence in his ability. 
In fact Isabella declared that, if he did not capture Ostend, 
nobody would. There was naturally much jealousy of the 
elevation of this untried military student to supreme com¬ 
mand j but the republican soldiers felt that it was a serious 
blow to their cause. 

Spinola soon displayed the fruits of his studies in the art of 
war. After taking command at Ostend in October, 1604, he 
discarded the cumbrous machinery of the Italian engineers, 
abandoned the dyke and sausage building, and adopted more 
scientific methods. He began mining approaches against the 
chain of forts at the Polder,” or meadow, at the western 
side, and encouraged his men by his skill and daring. The 
besieged could only grope blindly against these underground 
works, and, by Maurice’s instructions, prepared to blow up 
their bulwarks as fast as they were endangered by the enemy’s 
progress. 

One after another the fortifications yielded to the mining 
assaults and storming-parties of the brilliant Italian. Two 
governors of the town had been killed, and one desper¬ 
ately wounded, in the first quarter of the year 1604. These 
changes in the government hindered defensive operations, 
and the ravages of the elements added to the destruction 
wrought by the besiegers. Still the city held out, and the 


480 History of the Netherlmtds, 

new governor, the Flemish Baron of Berendrecht, finding one 
half the place in the enemy’s hands, constructed an inner line 
of intrenchments to defend the remainder. When the Span¬ 
iards blew up the old wall, they were amazed to find these 
new works, which had been largely built by the soldiers, repel¬ 
ling their advance. Pressed back by their desperate foes 
under cover of the fire from the ramparts, the storming-party 
met a bloody defeat where they expected an easy victory. 
A few days afterward the brave Berendrecht was killed, and 
his successor, the Dutch Colonel Uytenhoove, prepared for 
the worst by setting off a third of the remaining works as a 
last defence against the besiegers. This spot was called Little 
Troy. 

Such were the desperate straits of the besieged, that, 
for lack of earth to construct their fortifications, they were 
obliged to dig up the graveyards and fill the walls with 
bodies of dead soldiers. The new governor, desperately 
wounded in meeting an assault of the foe, was soon obliged 
to leave his perilous post, and his place was taken by the Lord 
of Marquette, one of the heroes of the battle of Nieuport. 
The states now sent abundant materials to fortify little Troy; 
but Spinola cannonaded it with such fury that its destruction 
seemed inevitable. 

Meanwhile Maurice of Nassau had unwillingly invaded 
Flanders by order of the states-general; but, though bent on 
capturing Sluys, his delay on the island of Cadzand enabled 
Spinola to send troops to block his approach. Overcoming 
all obstacles, the stadtholder at last began the siege of Sluys, 
and maintained it in spite of the assaults of his Italian rival. 
In this extremity the archdukes were impelled to make terms 
with their mutinous troops, who were granted a full pardon, 
and security for the money due them. Sluys, however, sur¬ 
rendered Aug. 18, 1604, after a resistance of three months, 
which forced the population to suffer all the horrors of fam- 



JAMES ARMINIUS. 


481 







1604. 


SiLrre7tder of Ostefid. 


483 


ine. As Ostend was now of less importance to the republic, 
the stadtholder opposed attempting its relief, but, yielding to 
the demands of the states-general, he prepared for the effort. 
It was the last hope for the place, which had only the unsea¬ 
soned walls of little Troy to resist the terrific fire of Spinola. 
The dreadful condition of the roads preventing Maurice’s 
advance, Ostend surrendered on the 20th of September, 1604, 
after a siege of three years and seventy-seven days. The 
chivalrous Spinola gave a superb banquet to the gallant repub¬ 
lican officers in his pavilion, and Maurice warmly welcomed 
them at Sluys. Ostend exhibited to the victors a scene of 
utter desolation. No buildings were left amid the ruins, and 
the inhabitants lived in holes in the ground. The sea swept 
drearily over the shattered dykes. The whitened bones of 
the defenders of the town were everywhere visible. Isabella, 
who accompanied her husband, wept at the ghastly sight. 
At an entertainment given them by Spinola, the mines, as¬ 
saults, and other features of the great siege were represented 
in mimic spectacle. Only two of the dwellers in the deso¬ 
late spot could be induced to remain there, and they were 
persons of such bad character that they had been forbidden 
to enter Zealand. Yet to capture this dreary sandbank more 
than a hundred thousand lives and four million dollars had 
been sacrificed. 


CHAPTER XXXI. 


THE REPUBLIC AT BAY. 

The fall of Ostend had followed close upon a treaty of 
peace which King James had made with Spain and the arch¬ 
dukes, on the 18th of August, 1604. This provided that 
neither party should assist the others’ rebels or enemies, and 
that English subjects should not aid the Hollanders to trade 
with Spain or the obedient Netherlands. As for the Dutch 
cities with English garrisons, they were to be held for the 
states, unless the government failed to make peace with Spain 
within a reasonable time. This treaty caused great anxiety 
in the United Provinces, from fear that Spanish intrigues and 
gold would convert King James into an active enemy. Bar- 
neveld again urgently appealed to the French government 
for aid, but in vain. 

The British monarch soon showed that his pacific policy 
was due to his personal desire.for peace with a country 
with which he had none of his predecessor’s troubles, and 
for independence of his own parliament, rather than to aid. 
Philip III. He admitted Caron, the states’ envoy, to the 
rank of ambassador, to the disgust of his Spanish rival: 
and allowed both the warring nations to enlist troops in Eng¬ 
land, while forbidding his subjects to enter any foreign naval 
service. The Dutch lost many prizes by the English ad¬ 
miral’s searching their cruisers for English sailors, and then 
restoring the captured ships to the Spaniards. Public law 
in those days making a distinction against soldiers taken in 
merchant vessels, Vice-Admiral Haultain, by order of the 



JAMES I. OF ENGLAND. 












































i6o4. Reverses of the Reptiblic. 487 

states-general, enforced it rigorously against Spanish troops 
captured in about a dozen transports off Dover. They were 
bound together in twos, back to back, and thrown into the 
sea. This barbarous practice, which the Dutch called voet- 
spolen^ or feet-washing, had previously been applied to the 
privateers of Dunkirk. 

Some of the Spanish transports took refuge under the guns 
of Dover Castle, which cannonaded the pursuers. The 
Dutch complained, in reply to English remonstrances against 
their intrusion, that their men-of-war were treated more se¬ 
verely than the Dunkirk pirates, who cruised unmolested in 
English waters. Admiral Dirkzoon, the admiral of these 
privateers, having been captured by a Rotterdam captain 
called Pretty Lambert, was, with sixty of his crew, hanged 
in that city. 

Reverses overtook the republican troops in the year 1605. 
A great expedition to surprise Antwerp in the spring was so 
long in getting ready that the city had time to guard against 
it. Maurice seemed to have lost his usual skill. He was 
outgeneralled by the brilliant Spinola, The superb cavalry 
of the republic under command of Frederick Henry fled 
before Trivulzio’s Italian horse, near Miilheim, on the '8th 
of October. The future stadtholder himself narrowly escaped 
death while boldly charging the enemy. A carbine aimed 
at his head by a Spanish trooper missed fire. But his dan¬ 
ger was not yet over: having discharged his own pistol, he 
would have been captured, as his bright orange scarf had 
already been grasped by the foe, had not an unknown sol¬ 
dier risked his life to save him. 

The failure of the Dutch arms at home was offset by their 
success in the Indies. It was there that they were to gain 
their richest prizes. Early in the year 1605 the East India 
Company captured the important island of Amboyna from 
the Portuguese, protected the oppressed king of the island of 


488 History of the Ncthcidands, 

Ternate, and overcame his rival, the King of Tydor. After 
gaining this victory, Admiral Sebastian secured control of the 
Molucca Islands and the coveted clove-trade. But, though 
expelling the Portuguese from their strongholds, the Dutch 
were more merciful to them than to the Spaniards in this 
region, upon whom they wreaked a murderous hatred. The 
East India Company’s claim to the exclusive commerce of 
these seas was not relished by the English traders, and they 
had therefore sided with the Portuguese. 

There was a daring French engineer named Du Terrail in 
the archduke’s service, who boasted that he could capture 
any town in the Netherlands by means of his explosive ma¬ 
chines, called petards. During the summer campaign of 
1605 he had twice attempted to surprise the city of Bergen- 
op-Zoom. Having blown up one of the gates on his second 
attempt, he dashed forward with his troops, expecting an 
easy triumph. But the energy of the governor, Paul Bax, 
and the heroism of the inhabitants, baffled the invaders. By 
the light of great bonfires they were assailed with bullets, 
blazing pitch-hoops, and paving-stones, amid the taunts of the 
defenders of the town. Catholics and Protestants, ministers 
of religion, and even women, united to beat back the foe. 
Undaunted by this bloody repulse, Du Terrail made a similar 
attack upon Sluys the following spring. He forced his way 
into that strongly fortified city, with twelve hundred sol¬ 
diers, while Governor Van der Noot and the inhabitants 
were asleep. An unexpected circumstance now defeated his 
plans. 

The signal for an attack on the guard-houses from both 
sides of the city was the striking of the great church clock; 
but the sexton had wound it up so tight the night before that it 
could not sound the hour. Missing the expected signal, the 
assailants at the western gate anxiously awaited a clew to the 
mystery. Meanwhile the townspeople and garrison became 


i6o6. Appeals to France for Aid. 489 

aroused, and attacked the intruders so furiously that nearly all 
of them were killed, or drowned in the moat beyond. 

Being prevented by floods in Friesland from invading that 
part of the country, in the summer of 1606 Spinola formed 
a daring plan of marching into the provinces of Utrecht and 
Holland, and crushing the republic at a blow. The watchful 
Maurice, who now had an army of fifteen thousand men, was 
resolved to defeat this design at any cost. He so carefully 
guarded the approaches to the threatened territory that 
his dashing antagonist had to withdraw and content him¬ 
self with the capture of the towns of Lochem and Groll. 
He then laid siege to the important city of Rheinberg, 
which the states-general urged Maurice to relieve; but he 
would not risk exposing Holland to the march of his swift 
and daring opponent. After a resistance of six weeks, Rhein¬ 
berg, then under the command of Frederick Henry, surren¬ 
dered on the 2d of October, to the great dissatisfaction of the 
states, whom it had taken a much longer time to capture. 
Maurice was blamed for his inaction during this siege, and it 
was feared that the enemy would pursue their conquests into 
the territory of the republic. There was talk of arranging 
terms with the archduke. 

In this emergency appeals for aid were again made to 
France. Henry IV. was perplexed how to act. He wished 
to succor the provinces, but could not afford to plunge into 
war with Spain, and incur the hostility of England, without 
securing sovereignty over them, as a partial occupancy to 
secure his expenses would create trouble with the jealous 
states, and expose him to greater danger abroad. The repub¬ 
lic was then thought to be short-lived, being rent by internal 
dissensions, and the sway of Maurice or some other sover¬ 
eign was deemed imminent. As France desired peace, the 
intrigues of Barneveld and Aerssens failed. Villeroy, the 
French prime minister, encouraged the Dutch envoy with 


490 


History of the Netherlands. 


hopes of aid, provided Maurice and Barneveld would secure 
the provinces for his master. But this was a forlorn hope, 
though the advocate had artfully excited it. Neither the son 
nor the friend of William the Silent dreamed of overriding the 
popular will. With its growth, and experience of indepen¬ 
dence, the distressed republic would not yield to Henry IV. 
the sovereignty which it had begged his predecessor to 
accept. 1 

Spinola was soon seriously embarrassed for want of money. 
His capital and credit alike gave out, and the Spanish cabi¬ 
net would no longer aid him. His unpaid troops broke into 
mutiny. In vain he sought to suppress it by posting the 
names of the principal offenders upon a gibbet. Again they 
seized the city of Hoogstraaten, and ravaged the neighbor¬ 
hood. Their way of terrifying the peasants into submission 
was by placing straw in their hats as a threat of burning places 


1 The alarm which the capture of Rheinberg excited in the republic is referred 
to by Le Clerc. “ Histoire des Provinces-Unies des Pays-Bas,” tom. i. p. 238, 
folio. Amsterdam, 1728. Davies, “ History of Holland,” vol. ii. p. 400. London, 
1851. But neither of these authors, nor any English or American historian of 
the Netherlands, has mentioned the fact that this disaster occasioned an earnest 
appeal to France for aid. The friendly French monarch, who saw no alternative 
but assuming sovereignty over the United Provinces, as it was thought impos¬ 
sible for them to hold out much longer, was embarrassed by their distracted 
condition and the danger of war with Spain. The states proposed that Henry IV. 
should take some of their towns as security for his expenses, but this plan 
was thought by the king and his sagacious adviser to have “ all the inconven¬ 
iences of the first, without any of its advantages; we should besides have nu¬ 
merous garrisons to maintain, because these towns would be doubtless upon the 
frontiers, where the Flemings would behold us with as bad an eye as the Span¬ 
iards themselves, of which we have a very recent example in their behavior to 
the English in the like circumstance.” War with England was also expected to 
follow hostilities with Spain as soon as France seemed desirous of getting a 
footing in the provinces. “Memoirs of Sully,” vol. iv. pp. 132-135. Phila¬ 
delphia, 1817. Barneveld’s artful intrigues, which seem to have imposed on 
Buzanval, the French envoy at the Hague, are set forth in the latter’s letters 
to Villeroy. “Archives de la Maison d’Orange-Nass^u,” serie, tom. ii. 
PP- 369-374- 


s 

5 



DUTCH PEASANT WOMEN. 


491 













































i6o6. 


A Desperate Sea-Fight. 


493 


where their demands were refused, or by sending letters with 
burnt edges and a representation of a naked sword. Six 
hundred of the mutineers enlisted under Justine of Nassau 
at Breda. 

Profiting by the distress of his adversary, Maurice recap¬ 
tured Lochem; but while leisurely besieging Groll, early in 
November, 1606, he was surprised by the rapid march of the 
brilliant Spinola to its relief. With about eight thousand 
troops he had ventured to encounter twice the number. Yet 
the stadtholder, instead of attacking the wearied foe, to 
the disgust of his troops abandoned the siege. The city of 
Groll was saved to the archduke, and Maurice closed the 
campaign under a cloud. Spinola’s prowess had eclipsed his 
fame. Henry IV. of France lamented the successes of the 
skilful Italian as evidence of the interference of the states- 
general. In this, however, he was mistaken; for, although 
their preparations for the campaign were insufficient, its con¬ 
duct was left wholly to the stadtholder. But while Maurice 
may have been over-cautious, he was not unfaithful. With 
his troops weakened by sickness, he was unwilling to imperil 
the safety of the republic by risking the chances of defeat. 
Yet his enemies charged him with avoiding a conflict lest his 
victory should end the war, which he was bent on continuing 
against the wishes of the states-general. 

A desperate sea-fight which occurred about this time illus¬ 
trated the heroism of a Dutch naval commander and the 
timidity of his associates. While cruising for Spanish treas¬ 
ure-ships off Cape St. Vincent, Admiral Haultain, with thirteen 
ships, fell in with a great war fleet of the enemy under Don 
Luis de Fazardo. The other republican commanders evaded 
the unequal conflict; but Vice-Admiral Klaaszoon bravely 
breasted it. Though his mainmast had been carried away in 
the onset, he fought his ship gallantly, and, seeing his danger, 
Haultain came to the rescue with five of his fleet. At last 


494 History of the Netherlands. 

Klaaszoon’s dismasted vessel was left alone to fight the 
eighteen galleons. 

Spurning the summons to surrender, the vice-admiral nailed 
his colors to the wreck, and for two days and nights kept up 
the desperate fight. The Spaniards dared not grapple his 
vessel, lest he should blow it up. Rather than accept their 
proffered mercy, he resolved, as his ship was about sinking, 
to seek that of Heaven. Sustained by his officers and crew, 
most of whom were wounded, in his heroic purpose the ad¬ 
miral knelt with them upon the deck, and prayed for pardon 
for his sin. He then set fire to the powder-magazine. The 
ship was blown into the air, the only survivors of the terrific 
explosion being two sailors who were picked up by the 
Spaniards. Half-drowned and mangled as they were, they 
fiercely defied their hated foe till death came to their relief. 
The glorious fight made by Klaaszoon justified the belief that 
with proper support his life, as well as the honor of Ad¬ 
miral Haultain, would have been saved, and victory perhaps 
been secured for the Dutch. 

Three noted N ethferlanders died during the year 1606, — 
Justus Lipsius, the great classical scholar; the brave but 
reckless and intemperate Hohenlohe; and old Count John 
of Nassau, one of the founders of the independence of the 
United Provinces, and the last surviving brother of William 
the Silent. In this year, also, Philip William, Prince of 
Orange, who, since his release from Spanish captivity, had 
held aloof from the national cause, married the sister of the 
Prince of Cond^, and by this union with a niece of Henry IV. 
of France obtained from that monarch complete sovereignty 
over his principality of Orange, where he resided until the 
Dutch Republic made peace with Spain. 


CHAPTER XXXII. 


THE TWELVE YEARS’ TRUCE, 

Peace was now favored among both parties to the long 
Netherland conflict. Spain, with exhausted finances and 
humbled pride, no longer expected singly to conquer the 
United Provinces, and her requests for aid were refused by 
England and France.^ The scheme of marrying the Infanta 
to the Prince of Wales, as a means of regaining the provinces, 
proved a failure. There was danger that the Catholic prov¬ 
inces, which were especially exposed to the assaults of the 
enemy, would again refuse to pay the heavy war taxes. Bar- 
neveld feared that Maurice’s success might be fatal to repub¬ 
lican government. He dreaded also that passion for warlike 
glory which had already begun to dazzle the sober-minded 
Dutchmen, and feared that defeat would force the nation 
into the arms of France. 

Yet the war policy still had strong supporters. It was 
favored by the offlce-holders, the army and navy, the East 
India Company, the Calvinist clergy, and the populace in 
towns and cities. Maurice of Nassau was at the head of this 
powerful party. His tastes and talents were military, and 
peace would be a severe blow to his ambition. 

1 Ranke, whose careful study of European politics during the sixteenth and 
seventeenth centuries gives great weight to his opinions, says: “ There can be no 
serious doubt that the refusal of the alliance which the Spaniards had proposed 
to the King of England impelled the former to turn their thoughts to a peaceful 
adjustment of their difficulties with the Netherlands. They had made similar 
overtures to Franee also, but these had been shipwrecked by the firmness and 
mistrust of Henry IV.” “ History of England,” vol. i. p. 419. Oxford, 1875. 


496 History of the Netherlands. 

As the cabinet of Madrid were weary of the exhausting 
war, they heeded the pacific appeals of Spinola. The new 
king, Philip IIL, was a well-meaning but weak-minded man 
of twenty-nine, with light hair and beard, and the Burgundian 
lip of his family. He was wholly under the control of the 
Duke of Lerma, an ambitious grandee, who used his influence 
to enrich his relatives and friends. Philip II. had dreaded 
the ascendency of Lerma over his son ; but the stern parent’s 
warnings were lost upon the susceptible youth. So the new 
king, absorbed in religious devotions and the pleasures of the 
court, allowed his kingdom to drift in the same dangerous 
direction in which Philip II. had guided it. 

Early in April, 1607, a suspension of hostilities was agreed 
upon for eight months from the 4th of May. This truce, 
however, did not apply to the sea outside of certain Euro¬ 
pean waters. Hardly had this arrangement been made when 
news arrived of a victory by Jacob Heemskerk, the bold 
Arctic explorer, in the Bay of Gibraltar, on the 25 th of April, 
1607. With twenty-six small vessels he had boldly attacked, 
under the very guns of the fortress, a formidable Spanish 
fleet of twenty-one ships, commanded by Don Juan Alvarez 
d’Avila, one of the heroes of Lepanto. 

Of all the proud galleons, only the St. Augustine,” the 
flag-ship, was afloat at evening. After holding out bravely, 
she had yielded at last to her clinging foes. A nimble sailor 
then reached her mast-head and hauled down the flag. 

The great victory was stained with ferocious cruelty. Even 
the wounded, were mercilessly slaughtered. The Nether- 
landers pursued their victims into the water, and butchered 
them as they were attempting to escape. Revenge for the 
death of Heemskerk increased the fury of his comrades, which 
was also heightened by the discovery, among Admiral d’Avila’s 
papers, of orders from the king to inflict the utmost cruelties 
upon their captives. 


1607. Wretched Condition of Spain, 49^7 

There was great alarm in Spain at this overwhelming defeat 
in its own waters. The India fleets were afraid to venture 
forth lest they should be captured by the terrible Hollanders. 
Spinola was the object of special attack, for agreeing to a 
cessation of hostilities which was chiefly limited to the land. 
Peace was now generally desired, for there was no longer 
means of carrying on the war. Nearly all the property of the 
country w^as in the hands of corrupt and lazy nobles and 
priests. Honest industry being considered degrading, for¬ 
eigners monopolized the profits of commerce and manufac¬ 
tures. Beggars, brigands, and smugglers abounded; and the 
non-producing classes, alike indolent and immoral, devoured 
the wealth of the land. To add to its burdens, the govern¬ 
ment cruelly hunted into exile the Moors, whose industry 
and artistic skill were of great value to Spain. Bigotry 
reached its height in this lamentable act, which was due to a 
desire to make all the people think alike in religious matters. 
Unity in religion was then deemed essential to public safety 
by Protestant as well as Catholic nations. 

At the request of the government of the United Provinces, 
the kings of England and France sent envoys to assist in the 
peace negotiations. King James was represented by Sir 
Ralph Winwood and Sir Richard Spencer, and Henry IV. by 
Jeannin, President of the Parliament of Burgundy, in addi¬ 
tion to Buzanval, the regular ambassador. 

Though the war party, headed by Maurice of Nassau, re¬ 
doubled their efforts against peace in consequence of Spanish 
artifice, Barneveld’s control of the city and town governments 
led to a renewal of the negotiations. Thus the opposition of 
the two leaders grew more bitter. 

On the last day of January, 1608, the Spanish commis¬ 
sioners arrived at the Hague in great style. They had come 
in sledges over the frozen waters of Holland. Philip’s chief 
envoy was the President Richardot, a veteran negotiator who 

32 


49 ^ History of the Netherlands. 

had treated with St. Aldegonde for the surrender of Antwerp 
and with the French and English peace commissioners ten 
and twenty years before. But the principal object of interest 
was the Marquis Spinola. The sturdy Hollanders enthusias¬ 
tically greeted the great rival of Maurice, who, with William 
Louis and other magnates, had met the ambassadors at 
some distance from the city. Though the stadtholder is said 
to have unwillingly obeyed the order of the states to welcome 
Spinola, he brought him back in his own coach. The splen¬ 
dor of the brilliant Italian’s housekeeping so shocked some of 
the frugal Dutchmen that the authorities were asked to check 
the demoralizing display. 

At the meeting of the peace commissioners in the palace 
of the states-general, Barneveld and Jeannin, the able French 
diplomatist, took the most prominent part. The news of a 
great victory by Admiral Matalieff over the Spaniards in the 
Indian seas encouraged the states-general. In the autumn 
of 1606 he had laid siege to the city and fortress of Malacca, 
repelled the enemy’s fleet, and recovered the kingdom of 
Ternate. Meantime the states made an alliance with Eng¬ 
land, like that made with France just before the peace 
negotiations began, to secure fresh aid in case of need. 
But the refusal of Philip III. to concede the India trade, 
and the right to prevent the public exercise of the Catho¬ 
lic religion in their dominions to the Dutch, ended the ne¬ 
gotiations on the 20th of August, 1608. Hostilities seemed 
inevitable from the discovery that the Spanish king had in¬ 
trigued to detach France from the cause of the republic 
by an offer of marriage between the Crown Prince of Spain 
and the eldest daughter of Henry IV. 

In this crisis the English and French ambassadors proposed 
a truce for several years, which should acknowledge the sov¬ 
ereignty of the republic and leave the India trade open dur¬ 
ing the period. This was vigorously opposed by Maurice 


1609. 


The Truce Signed. 


499 


and the war party, and a fierce pamphleteering conflict 
followed between his partisans and those of Barneveld. 
The advocate was denounced as a tool of Spain, charged 
with treason in anonymous letters read before the states- 
general, and accused of receiving bribes from Spinola. But 
although the indignant statesman resigned his public office, 
the states prevailed upon him to resume them. 

By the exercise of its rights of sovereignty, Zealand, sup¬ 
ported by Amsterdam and Delft, blocked the truce. Threats 
to secede from the union were made by the Zealanders, with 
whom, as chief noble, Maurice had great authority. But the 
influence of the English and French governments overcame 
their opposition. For a time, too, Maurice and Barneveld 
were reconciled. The Archduke Albert sent his father con¬ 
fessor to Spain to allay the king’s scruples on the religious 
question ; and as the Duke of Lerma and the clergy favored 
peace, Philip yielded the point. 

In the final negotiations which took place at Antwerp, the 
Spaniards objected to the swelling title assumed by the states 
of High and Mighty Lords,” and it was-changed to “ Illus¬ 
trious Lords.” After two years and a quarter of tedious dis¬ 
cussion a truce for twelve years was signed on the 9th of 
April, 1609. The states gained all their demands, — recog¬ 
nition of their independence, liberty to carry on the India 
trade, and even the right to prevent Catholic worship in their 
dominions. To humor Spanish pride, no direct mention of 
these last two points was made in the treaty. Before leaving 
the country the wise Jeannin wrote earnestly to the states-gen- 
eral in favor of toleration for the large and patriotic Catholic 
population of the republic. Danger to the government, said 
the French statesman in this remarkable address, is not in 
the permission but in the prohibition of religious liberty. Yet, 
in the name of the King of Spain, he only asked that Catho¬ 
lics should be allowed the private exercise of their religion. 


500 History of the Netherlands^ 

The truce, which was justly regarded as a great triumph of 
the republic, was guaranteed by England and France. It 
was naturally welcomed more earnestly in the Spanish Neth¬ 
erlands, where it was a necessity, than by their more prosper¬ 
ous neighbors. Peace was to bring to the subject provinces 
brilliant successes in art and literature, and agricultural though 
not commercial progress; but religious bigotry and foreign 
domination were to drag the country down again in after 
years. In the United Provinces the truce was to breed grave 
internal dissensions, religious and political, which were to 
stain the fame of the republic and the reputation of the 
House of Orange. And the final outcome of twelve years’ 
peace with Spain was to be a renewal of the war ! 

The influence of France in the councils of the republic had 
been increased by Jeannin’s skilful diplomacy. He had won 
over Maurice to the cause of peace by urging his claims upon 
the states-general. For his past services and for the loss of 
warlike occupation, the stadtholder received about ^60,000 
a year, his brother Frederick Henry ^12,500, and his cousin 
William Louis ^i^ooo. Even the recreant Philip William 
was granted nearly a million dollars besides his share of his 
father’s estate, and Justine of Nassau, the illegitimate son of 
William the Silent, was also pensioned. The French king’s 
object in effecting these grants was to control the republic 
through its ruling family. 

In order to settle disputes between provinces and towns, 
which sometimes blocked the wheels of government and 
threatened the safety of the union, Jeannin also proposed to 
create a council of state with seats for the English aad French 
ambassadors, and Maurice and Frederick Henry as members 
for life. This project was defeated by Barneveld, who opposed 
foreign influence in the government and the increase of the 
stadtholder’s power. 

But while preparing to invade the duchies of Cleves and 


i6io. Assassination of Henry IV. 501 

Juliers to humble the house of Austria, Henry IV. was assas¬ 
sinated in Paris on the 14th of May, 1610, by a fanatical 
Catholic named Ravaillac. It was a terrible blow to France 
and to Europe. The cause of religious and political liberty 
was set back for years by the dagger which destroyed the 
monarch who cherished broad views of progress, who united 
to hearty popular sympathies appreciation of great intellectual 
movements, and whose faults were those of a noble and 
generous nature. 

The death of Henry IV. delayed the march of Maurice 
into the duchies until the middle of July. Joining the force 
of the Prince of Anhalt, he besieged Juliers, which surrendered 
on the I St of September, two weeks after the arrival of the 
small French army. To avoid breaking the truce with Spain 
or exciting the jealousy of the allies, the stadtholder soon 
returned to Holland by order of the states-general, leaving 
the German princes in possession of their dominions. These 
were, however, the scene of hostilities four years later, Spinola 
and Maurice each seizing a number of cities, though they 
avoided attacking each other on account of the twelve years’ 
truce. By the treaty of Xanten, in December, 1614, the 
disputed territories were to be divided between the two 
German claimants; but Spain defeated the project. 

Religious, masking and intensifying political, strife was now 
to bring greater evils to the republic than foreign war. The 
conflict arose from dissensions in the Calvinist sect of Prot¬ 
estants. Calvinism had entered the provinces from France, 
with the fiery field preachers and the stirring psalms of Marot, 
which were sung at the camp-meetings, while the more mod¬ 
erate Lutheranism had come from Germany several years 
before. But though the latter had the first martyrs in the 
Netherlands,^ the former became the popular faith. Luther 


1 Four years after the writings of Luther had been burned at Louvain, two 
Augustine monks were burned alive in the Grand Square at Brussels, July i, 


502 


Histoiy of the Netherlands, 


opposed political agitation for religious purposes, as he feared 
the cause of the Reformation would be injured by fanatical 
violence. Calvin, on tlie contrary, gave a Democratic organ¬ 
ization to the Geneva church, and its ardent ministers repelled 
the control of the civil power. The fiery zeal of Calvinism 
was necessary to breast Philip’s bigotry, and the lamentable 
excesses of its votaries were the natural result of their iron 
creed and the persecutions of their enemies. Calvinistic 
supremacy in the United Provinces had been useful during 
the war by giving unity and force to resistance to foreign tyr¬ 
anny, though the excesses of its zealots in the other provin¬ 
ces had prevented a permanent union of all the Netherlands. 
It was reserved for peace to show the disorganizing and 
destructive power of controversies in the most rigid of Prot¬ 
estant sects, within the republic. 

A division had occurred in the Calvinist or Dutch Reformed 
Church, from disputes between two rival professors of the¬ 
ology at Leyden, Gomarus and Arminius, in 1604. As the 
Arminians remonstrated against the severe doctrines of their 
opponents, they were called Remonstrants, and the Gomarists 
were styled Contra-Remonstrants.^ Their disputes on obscure 

1523, for adopting his heretical doctrines. The immorality of the Catholic 
clergy was the cause of the success of Lutheran preachers, and at Antwerp 
especially the new doctrines made rapid progress. Hubert, “ De Charles-Quint 
k Joseph II.,” pp. 18, 19. Bruxelles, 1882. 

' “ The difference between these two professors,” says the authoritative histo¬ 
rian of the period, “ consisted briefly in the following points. Arminius was of 
opinion that God, being a righteous judge as well as a merciful father, had from 
all eternity made this distinction between the fallen offspring of man, — that 
those who should forsake their sins and put their trust in Christ should be 
absolved from their evil actions and should enjoy everlasting life, but that the 
obdurate and impenitent should be punished. Besides, that it was pleasing 
to God that all men should forsake their sins, and, having attained to a knowl¬ 
edge of the truth, should continue steadfast in it, but that he compelled no 
man. 

‘ ‘ On the other hand, Gomarus maintained that it was appointed by an eternal 
decree of God who among mankind should be saved and who should be damned. 


i 6 io. Bitter Theological Disputes, 503 

points of theology soon spread among the people, and threat¬ 
ened such disturbances that the states of Holland summoned 
Gomarus and Arminius before the Grand Council. After a 
long hearing it was held that their differences did not affect 
the essentials of Christian doctrine. Barneveld therefore 
advised mutual toleration; but as the disputes involved also 
claims to political supremacy, they became more embittered. 
The conflict was between the burgher and mercantile aristoc¬ 
racy who controlled the states of Holland, and the masses of the 
people and the ministers of religion, who were jealous of their 
power and favored that of the stadtholder. Amsterdam and 
several other cities in Holland sided with the popular ele¬ 
ment. King James I. of England also took the part of the 
Contra-Remonstrants ; and by his influence, Vorstius, the suc¬ 
cessor of Arminius as professor of theology at Leyden, was 
obliged to abandon his post. The royal bigot who dipped 
his pen in gall to rebuke Vorstius, whom he declared deserved 
banishment as his book deserved burning, was actuated not 
merely by his fondness for theological discussion, but by dis¬ 
like to the burgher aristocracy who had favored the influence 
of France, and by a belief that a rigid Calvinism was the best 
weapon for fighting Catholicism. 

Barneveld, who, with the illustrious jurist, Grotius, led the 
Remonstrants, claimed not only that the Church was sub¬ 
ordinate to the State, but that the legislature of each province 

From whence resulted that some men were drawn to righteousness, and, being 
so drawn, were preserved from falling; but that God suffered all the rest to re¬ 
main in the common corruption of human nature and in their own iniquities. 

“ In consequence of these positions, Arminius charged Gomarus with hardening 
men in their rebellion by infusing into their minds the notion of a Fatal Necessity. 
But Gomarus, on the contrary, objected to Arminius that his doctrine tended 
to make men more proud and arrogant than that of the Papists themselves, and 
did not allow God the honor of that which was of the greatest consequence, to 
wit, his being the author of a well-disposed mind.” Brandt, “History of the 
Reformation in and about the Low Countries,” vol. ii. p. 31, folio. London, 
1721. 



504 History of the Netherlands. 

should regulate its religious affairs, while his opponents de¬ 
manded a national religious convention or synod, whose 
decrees should control the separate provinces. Maurice at 


JOHANNES UYTENBOGAERT. 

first seemed indifferent to the conflict of the Remonstrants 
and Contra-Remonstrants; he confessed his ignorance of 
theological subtleties, and the Arminian preacher Uyten- 


i 6 I 2 . 


Fanatical Disturbances. 


505 


bogaert was his friend and pastor. But the prince’s political 
sympathies were naturally with the masses as against the 
burgher aristocracy who ruled the states of Holland and 
the states-general, and threatened to diminish his authority. 

The struggle of the two factions for supremacy became 
more and more bitter. In places where the Remonstrants 
were in power, they punished persons who ridiculed their 
faiths by banishment or loss of citizenship. A printer who 
had witnessed these severities put some doggerel rhymes 
into a lottery about an Inquisition in Rotterdam.” For 
this act the printer was deprived of his prize in the lottery 
and kept in prison on bread and water for a fortnight. 
Where the Contra-Remonstrants controlled the churches and 
city governments, ministers suspected of Arminianism were 
assailed with brickbats and driven out of their pulpits with 
clubs. The house of a wealthy merchant in Amsterdam was 
sacked, and he and his wife wxre fiercely pursued on sus¬ 
picion of having Arminian preaching within. As the Re¬ 
monstrants ruled most towns and villages in Holland, their 
opponents held their religious services in barns and canal- 
boats. But they were soon kept out of these retreats by the. 
magistrates and stoned by the populace, just as the Contra- 
Remonstrants had been in the other provinces. 

The English ambassador at the Hague, Sir .Dudley 
Carleton, who succeeded Winwood early in 1615, like him 
zealously espoused the cause of the Contra-Remonstrants 
by his master’s orders. Barneveld, however, soon deprived 
King James of his most dangerous weapon against the 
republic. The constant fear of the states that Spain would 
secure from England the important Netherland places, or 
“ cautionary towns,” as they were called, which had been 
delivered to Queen Elizabeth as security for her loan, had 
lately been increased by rumors of a marriage between the 
eldest son of King James and the Infanta. Cecil, afterward 


5 o6 History of the Netherlands. 

Earl of Salisbury, the able minister of Elizabeth and her 
successor, had once wittily said of a proposal so bitter foi 
his countrymen, that the gallant Prince of Wales could find 
blooming roses everywhere and did not need to look for an 
olive. But Cecil, who controlled the foreign policy of Eng¬ 
land during the early part of James’s reign, was now dead. 
Barneveld therefore took advantage of the king’s financial 
embarrassments, caused by the greed of his favorites and the 
opposition of his parliament, to regain Flushing, Brill, and 
Rammekens for ^1,250,000, which was only one third of 
the heavy debt that was thus cancelled. On the 6th of 
June, 1616, the republic was enabled to consolidate its power 
at the expense of the pacific James. Yet Barneveld not 
only increased the king’s enmity by this sharp bargain, but 
was charged by the Contra-Remonstrants with being a tool 
of Spain. 

Meanwhile Maurice of Nassau had taken no active part 
in the religious and political movements which had convulsed 
the country. He was a soldier, and had no taste for such 
conflicts; but his • aversion to the rule of the provincial 
.governments represented by Barneveld and the states of 
Holland led him to sympathize with the Contra-Remon¬ 
strants. While he was thus inactive, Count William Louis, 
his trusted friend and counsellor, wrote earnest appeals to 
him, early in the year 1616, to protect the Reformed religion 
and secure a national synod, as a sacred duty imposed by 
his oath of office, and the only means of saving the country 
from disunion.^ Maurice’s hesitation yielded at last to his 

1 No English or American historian of the Netherlands has referred to 
this remarkable correspondence, without which it is impossible to understand 
the subsequent conduct of Maurice of Nassau and his relations with Barneveld, 
which are generally misunderstood. The letters are given in “ Archives de la 
Maison d’Orange-Nassau,” ae serie, tom. ii.; and the editor, the learned Groen 
van Prinsterer, who, like other eminent Dutch scholars, justly attaches great 
importance to them, has severely criticised Motley for wholly ignoring them 


1617. Maurice s Firm Stand, 507 

cousin’s appeals, and in January, 1617, he insisted on pro¬ 
tection for the Contra-Remonstrants and the holding of the 
national synod. 

The prince did not leave the Barneveld party in doubt as 
to his intentions. Attending, by invitation, a meeting of 
magistrates, deputies to the states-general, and other digni¬ 
taries in the council chamber at the Hague, the stadtholder 
was asked for his advice. It was a moment of hushed 
expectation. All eyes were turned on Maurice, whose un¬ 
usually grave expression indicated a firm resolve. He had 
the register for the year 1586, when he assumed office, 
brought in, and the oath read by which he and the states 
mutually agreed to defend the Reformed religion to the 
last drop of their blood. ‘‘As long as I live,” solemnly de¬ 
clared the stadtholder, “ I shall keep that oath and I shall 
defend that religion.” 

On Sunday, July 23, 1617, Maurice gave public evi¬ 
dence of his devotion to the cause of the Contra-Remon¬ 
strants. He rode forth with his attendants, past the mansion 
of Barneveld, to an ancient building which had lately been 
seized by his followers and converted from a cannon foundry 
into a temple of worship. As the venerable structure had 
originally been a convent, it was called the Cloister Church, 
and was henceforth known as the Prince’s Church. This 
demonstration was intended to overawe Barneveld and en¬ 
courage his opponents. Count William Louis wrote to 
Maurice that the open declaration, by his presence in this 
church, of his membership of the party which the states of 
Holland wished to oppress, had so delighted all good patriots 
and old reformers that they adjudged to him the crown of 
preserver of the religion and of the country. “But now,” 

in his Life of Barneveld. “ Maurice et Barnevelt,” Utrecht, 1875. The ex¬ 
istence of the correspondence was unknown to the English historians Davies 
and Grattan. 


5 o8 History of the Netherlands. 

he added, as if doubtful of the stadtholder’s firmness, con¬ 
stancy is especially necessary.” 

Barneveld was thus roused to retaliation. To prevent the 
national synod, the religious convention about to be held, from 
overriding the rights of the states of Holland, he caused them 
to reject its authority and assert their own supremacy. This 
bold and almost revolutionary measure of the 4th of August 
was called the “ Sharp Resolve.” 

Meantime the states of Holland prepared to defend their 
cause by force of arms. As the stadtholder had forbidden 
the troops to assist the magistrates in suppressing religious 
disturbances, the states, distrusting the fidelity of the militia, 
resolved to employ waartgelders for this purpose. Although 
these burgher guards, who were kept in waiting for emergen¬ 
cies, had often been used by city governments to resist 
domestic tumult or foreign invasion, they had never been 
opposed to the national troops. It was suicidal to invite civil 
war by arraying them against the superior forces of the stadt¬ 
holder. Amsterdam and four other cities of Holland pro¬ 
tested against this ^desperate measure. Fearing that Maurice 
would secure the seaport of Brill, the states of Holland sent 
to the magistrates to demand a new oath of allegiance from 
the garrison. Indignant at being accused, like Leicester, 
of plotting to overthrow the liberties of the country, the 
stadtholder, accompanied by the state council, demanded, in 
the assembly of the states-general, the repeal of the Sharp 
Resolve and the abandonment of new oaths from the sol¬ 
diery. But Barneveld, representing the states of Holland, 
while expressing regret at the slanders against the prince, 
said the states were independent of both the state council 
and the states-general. Maurice declared that his ruling 
motives had always been devotion to the country and the 
Reformed religion. 

The stadtholder now resolved to overawe the powerful 


1617. Opposition of Matirice and Barneveld, 509 

province which was the stronghold of his opponents. As the 
waartgelders of Barneveld had occupied the principal inland 
towns of Holland, the troops of Maurice took possession of 
the seaports. This was in September, 1617.1 

The English ambassador. Sir Dudley Carleton, representing 
his royal master before the states-general, argued in favor of 
a national synod on religious and constitutional grounds, and 
was vigorously answered by Barneveld in presence of the assem¬ 
bly. King James was especially incensed by a pamphlet 
called the Balance,” which he considered so impious and 
insulting that he induced the majority in the states-general to 
offer a reward for the discovery of the author and printer. 

Meanwhile the Sharp Resolve had been declared unconsti¬ 
tutional by the Grand Council, the supreme court of the 
union, as the states of Holland had anticipated, and Amster¬ 
dam and her associate cities refused to raise troops under the 
discredited law. The efforts of Barneveld and Grotius were 
doomed to defeat. The states-general, by a vote of four to 
three of the seven provinces, resolved, on the nth of Novem¬ 
ber, 1617, to hold the national synod. Holland, Utrecht, and 
Overyssel protested against this decision as illegal and tyran¬ 
nical, but it was upheld by Amsterdam and her four sister 
cities. Yet the Union of Utrecht, the national constitution. 


1 At about this time the English ambassador, who was, as his letters show, 
by no means the bitter partisan and enemy of Barneveld that he has often 
been represented, thus wrote to his government: “ Count Maurice is much 
beloved and followed both of soldiers and people. He is a man mnoxicB popii- 
laritatis, so as this jealousy cannot be well fastened upon him, and in this cause 
of religion he stirred not until within these few months, that either he saw he 
must declare himself for the defensive, or suffer the better party to be overborne.” 
Carleton expressed his wonder that a man of Barneveld’s wealth, authority, and 
age, and “ of so much merit in the state,” should run the risk of ruining himself 
and his posterity by seeking change ; adding that “ some of his best friends 
confess in this cause that, if not pride, opiniatretie [obstinacy] doth blind 
his judgment.” Sir Dudley Carleton to Secretary Winwood, Sept. 20, 1617 : 
“ Carleton’s Letters,” p. 182. 


510 


History of the Netherlands. 


did not permit a majority of the provinces to control the 
states-general, as a majority of the cities controlled the states- 
provincial; and by a special clause, each was left to regu¬ 
late its own religious affairs. 

As the states of Holland, under the influence of Barneveld, 
solemnly repudiated the national synod, the stadtholder re¬ 
solved to crush out their opposition. Early in the year i6i8 
he marched through the disaffected provinces with his body¬ 
guard, and seized control of the cities. Abusive caricatures 
and pamphlets were launched against the advocate. Even 
the beggars in the streets assailed him with foul songs. In 
his indignation at these assaults he addressed a remonstrance 
to the states of Holland and the stadtholder, which set forth 
with frank simplicity the course of his public and private 
life. 

The mistaken policy of Barneveld, in arraying the provin¬ 
cial against the general government by means of waartgelders, 
was soon apparent. Only eighteen hundred of these troops 
enlisted, and some of them showed signs of weakening. Six 
companies raised by the states of Utrecht in August, 1617, 
for the avowed purpose of resisting foreign foes, had been 
regarded by the states-general as really intended to prevent 
the enforcement of the proposed national synod. By refus¬ 
ing to comply with their request for the disbandment of the 
obnoxious troops, the states of Utrecht had nullified the 
authority of the republic. 

In the spring of 1618 Maurice, on his march through the 
provinces, had won over the states of Gelderland and Over- 
yssel to the cause of the synod. Holland and Utrecht were 
now alone in opposition to it. Barneveld, though the soul of 
this resistance, had written feelingly to Caron, the ambassador 
of the republic in England, about the libels on his patriotism. 
He had vainly tried to induce the stadtholder to supply 
native instead of foreign troops for the garrisons, on condition 



gelders themselves, even if proof against the pressure of pub¬ 
lic opinion, would not dare to resist the authority of the states- 
general, supported by the potent sword of the stadtholder. 


i6i8 The Waartgelders Weakening. 5 11 

of disbanding the waartgelders. The states of Holland had 
sent deputies, headed by Grotius, to the states of Utrecht to 
urge them to hold firm. There were fears that the waart- 


MAURICE OF NASSAU. 


512 , History of, the Netherlands. 

He had lately become Prince of Orange by the death of his 
elder brother, Philip William, who had left him heir to his 
great estates. 

When Maurice, supported by Sir Horace Vere, who had 
succeeded his brother as Governor of Brill, and in command 
of the English troops in the states’ service, arrived in the 
ancient city of Utrecht, the great annual fair, or Kermesse, 
was in. full blast. The streets were gay with festive shows, 
and alive with swarms of buyers and sellers in picturesque 
costumes. Groups of peasants gazed at the placards of 
the states-general and the states of Utrecht concerning the 
troubles, which were posted on the public buildings. Other 
'groups scanned the prints, caricatures, and ballads in the 
^ shop windows illustrating the failing fortunes of the Barne- 
veld party. 

‘'You hardly expected such a guest at your fair,” said the 
stadtholder, brusquely, to the magistrates. He told the com¬ 
missioners of the states of Holland and of the states of Utrecht 
that the synod must be held, and that the magistrates would 
be protected if they governed properly. Then he complained 
of plots against religion and his authority, and declared that 
the waartgelders were more dangerous than the Spaniards, and 
blamed Barneveld as wishing to govern the states-general by 
the states of Holland. To prevent his opponents from profit¬ 
ing by delay, Maurice soon took decisive action. On the 31st 
of July, 1618, four days after his plain talk to the Hollanders, 
he occupied the market-place of Utrecht with troops. 

By daybreak the astonished citizens found that the great 
square had been silently guarded several hours before, and 
that cannon had been ranged to command the principal 
avenues. Visiting the square with the deputies of the states- 
general, Maurice summoned the thousand waartgelders in the 
city to lay down their arms. They obeyed, and the danger 
of collision was over. Bloodshed was prevented by the 


i6i8. Success of the Contra-Remonstrafits. 513 

skill with which the stadtholder had arranged his plans. The 
representatives of the states of Holland sought safety in flight; 
the states of Utrecht dispersed, six members coming to thank 
the prince and urge him to make such changes in the city 
government as he thought desirable. He did this work so 
thoroughly that the civil power of the Contra-Remonstrants 
was assured, and they were also placed in possession of the 
Cathedral Church. 

The disputes between the two parties had a humorous 
side. A minister in the town of Oudewater having declared 
in his sermon that the Indians worshipped the devil, some of 
his hearers, supposing that he said Arminians, were on the 
point of inciting a tumult. Some boys in Utrecht, having 
plucked a live hen, chased it through the streets with the 
cry, O, armeii han ! (oh, poor hen !) and indeed the Ar- 
minian,’’ says a contemporary observ'er in relating the story, 
“ being lately very proud of his plumes, is now stripped so 
bare, that he is a subject to some of commiseration, but to 
most of scorn.” 


33 


CHAPTER XXXIII. 


TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF BARNEVELD. 

Having failed in his efforts for state rights, Barneveld sub¬ 
mitted calmly to the result. He even sought through Count 
William Louis an interview with Maurice, to settle the religious 
difficulties; but, as the count wrote to him, the } 3 rince would 
not consent to any change in the national synod. The gulf 
between the two parties was too wide to be bridged by com¬ 
promise. It was soon to be red with a bloody sacrifice. 

Though warned that his liberty was in danger, Barneveld 
took no steps to escape. On the 29th of August, 1618, he 
was arrested, with Grotius and Hoogerbeets, the Pensionary 
of Leyden, in the name of the states-general. Such was the 
feeling excited against Barneveld by abusive caricatures and 
pamphlets, that his arrest created no popular sympathy 
for him. The resolution of the states-general, posted on the 
walls, denouncing the three prisoners as responsible for the 
troubles in Utrecht and elsewhere, which had nearly plunged 
the country into a “ blood bath,” was deemed a just exposure 
of treason. The ambassador of France urged the states- 
general to moderation toward the advocate. Sir Dudley 
Cafleton, the English ambassador, who like his master had 
approved of Maurice’s proceedings, anticipated the result. 
One of the old statesman’s most bitter opponents was Francis 
Aerssens, son of that Cornelius Aerssens whom Spinola had 
tried to bribe. 

In order to subdue the opposition of the councils of the 
cities, those ancient strongholds of freedom, it was necessary 


i6i8. Maurice's Extreme Measures. 515 

to use force, as their deputies in the states of Holland insisted 
that Barneveld should be tried before all the provinces and 
the ambassadors of France and England. Maurice was 
therefore urged to remove the refractory municipal magis¬ 
trates in Holland, as he had in Gelderland and Utrecht. 
But again he hesitated to resort to extreme measures; and it 
was only after urgent appeals of the Contra-Remonstrant 
ministers, on the ground of duty to the church and the 
country, that he consented. 

Taking with him his body-guard of three hundred soldiers, 
he easily changed the city governments, with the exception 
of Hoorn, or Horn, a town long famous for the defence of its 
privileges. It was only by reinforcing his troops that he was 
able to establish a new board of magistrates in Horn, and a 
strong garrison had to be left to protect them. In Amster¬ 
dam. the venerable ex-Burgomaster Cornelius Hoofd, father 
of the historian, who had served nearly forty years' in the 
council and had opposed the sovereignty of William the 
Silent, firmly resisted this new encroacliment on the muni¬ 
cipal liberties. After vainly trying to rouse his colleagues 
against the measure, he appealed to the stadtholder himself. 
Maurice heard him through and said, as he shook the old 
patriot’s hand, “ Crandsire, it must be so for the present. 
Necessity and the service of the country require it.” 

The prince’s triumph was complete. Even the states of 
Holland supported him, the new members from the subject 
towns turning the scale in his favor. He declared tliat 
everything he had done was for the public good and 
without prejudice to municipal and provincial rights, and he 
asked that this declaration should be officially recorded. As 
the populace had greeted him with acclamations on his 
arrival at the Hague, so the states of Holland solemnly 
thanked him for the care he had taken, not without peril, for 
the preservation of the republic. 


5 i6 History of the Netherlands, 

Public worship by the Remonstrants was now everywhere 
prohibited, though they still attempted street preaching in 
some of their old strongholds. The‘holding of the synod 
which was to crush religious and political heresy was almost 
secure. Only the nobles held out against it. To overcome 
their opposition, a number of new members were proposed for 
that select body. Two of these, Francis Aerssens, Baron of 
Sommelsdyk, and Daniel de Hartaing, Lord of Marquette, 
were strongly objected to as legally ineligible, neither being a 
native of Holland. But the stadtholder’s reproaches and 
threats prevailed over the refractory nobles. The act of 
admission was voted, on condition that it should not be 
made a precedent. 

Soon after their arrest Barneveld and Grotius had been 
removed from the stadtholder’s quarters at the Hague to a 
wing of the palace in which were the halls of audience and 
assembly of the states-general. The advocate protested 
against this act of the national assembly, as violating the 
constitution which limited authority over him to the states of 
Holland. 

Meanwhile the synod opened at Dordrecht, or Dort, on the 
13th of November, 1618, was drawing near the close of its 
labors. Though comprising Reformed theologiaipis from 
various European countries, it was a Dutch national synod, 
and the native delegates, being in the majority, controlled its 
action. The president of the assembly was John Bogerman, 
a zealous Contra-Remonstrant, and the secretary was the 
celebrated philologist, Daniel Heinsius. Eighteen deputies 
from the states-general, who were called political com¬ 
missioners, had seats in the synod; and as its proceedings 
were conducted in Latin, some of them hardly knew what 
was going on. One of the deputies depended on a dic¬ 
tionary to eke out the information which he picked up by 
close attention to the debates. Scant favor was shown to the 



DORDRECHT. 


517 





























i6i9- The Synod of Dort. 519 

Remonstrants. They were dismissed from the synod before 
their doctrines were formally examined. 

The fiery theologian Gomarus conducted the sectarian 
controversy with such bitterness that he was rebuked by the 
Bishop of Llandaff, one of the English representatives; and 
as the president sustained Gomarus, Sir Dudley Carleton 
wTote a letter complaining of the bishop’s treatment, which 
made the bold Bogerman advise mutual conciliation. Then 
Martinius, a Bremen delegate, after explaining his opinions 
which had excited the ire of Gomarus, comprehensively 
remarked that he had seen in that synod some things divine, 
some things human, and some things diabolical. The result 
of the one hundred and eighty sessions of the assembly was 
the prohibition by law of the teachings of the Remonstrants, 
banishment of the deposed ministers, and enforcement of 
the doctrines of their opponents. This foreshadowed the 
punishment of the political leaders, who had resisted the 
holding of the synod. Diodati, a delegate from Geneva, 
declared that the canons of Dort would shoot off the head 
of Barneveld.^ 

After nearly seven months’ rigorous imprisonment the 

1 “ No church council has given rise to more bitter controversy than the 
Synod of Dort. Arminian authors have denounced it in the strongest 
language as unworthy the name of a Christian synod, while, on the other hand, 
Calvinistic writers have extolled its fairness and impartiality. All depends 
upon the point of view and upon the notion of the true purpose of the synod 
which is adopted. If this celebrated assembly is conceived as a deliberative 
body designed for the disctission of the five points of theology in question, 
then all that the Arminians have said of it would be well deserved. If, on the 
other hand, it be conceived as a body of divines holding Calvinistic views, 
believing those views to be true, and called for the purpose of condemning and 
prohibiting the contrary opinions in the Belgic churches, the course of the 
synod was consistent throughout. And this we believe to be the true view. It 
was not a free assembly for the discussion of controverted points in theology 
but a national ecclesiastical court for the trial of alleged heretics.” McClintock 
and Strong, “ Cyclopaedia of Biblical Theology and Ecclesiastical Literature,” 
vol. ii. p. 872. New York, 1868. 


520 


History of the Netherlands. 


advocate was brought to trial on the yth of March, 1619, 
having been previously subjected, like his friends Grotius 
and Hoogerbeets, to a rigid examination by thirteen com¬ 
missioners appointed by the states-general. An extraordinary 
tribunal of twenty-four judges, twelve from Holland and two 
from each of the other provinces, now took him in charge. 
Among them were nobles, pensionaries, burgomasters, baililfs, 
and other dignitaries, most of whom were members of the 
states-general. There were only a few trained lawyers in the 
tribunal. Moreover, the court had been constituted by 
the national assembly, the body which had arrested Barneveld 
and which also selected the three fiscals, or prosecuting 
officers. Thus the same men were both accusers and 
judges. The wife of the prisoner had vainly complained to 
the states-general that three of the judges were his bitter 
enemies. These were Francis Aerssens, lately admitted to 
the chamber of nobles, Hugo Muys, Bailiff of Dort, and 
Reinier Pauw, Burgomaster of Amsterdam. 

The trial of Barneveld, like all trials in that age in which 
popular passions aftd party feeling were excited, violated the 
rules of justice. He was refused a written list of the charges 
against him, was deprived of books and papers, and was 
not allowed to consult either counsel or friends. He suc¬ 
ceeded, however, in obtaining writing materials. His exami¬ 
nation was a jumble of confusing questions, covering his 
whole public life. Under this constant cross-fire the old 
statesman sustained himself ably. But his answers to the 
questions of his judges, which constituted his defence, injured 
his case. Having justified his opposition to the synod, and 
other acts against the authority of the states-general and the 
stadtholder, the court, looking at the consequences of these 
acts rather than their technical lawfulness, considered them 
dangerous to the national safety, 

It was a time of tremendous political excitement; the 


i6i9- The Conviction of Barneveld. 521 

truce was drawing to a close amid internal dissensions which 
threatened to leave the country a prey to Spanish intrigues. 
The Calvinist ministers and their followers believed that any 
divisions in the church would turn to the advantage of the 
enemy, and such was the fanaticism of the day that favor for 
religious toleration was suspected as treasonable. Barneveld’s 
defence by its very boldness worked against him ; his refer¬ 
ences to the “ low people,” whose control of the state he 
feared, were resented by the judges as reflecting on the 
masses whom they represented. With the exception of his 
refutation of the charge of being a tool of Spain, his de¬ 
fence ” was really a justification of the policy which his 
enemies deemed indefensible. 

The advocate’s condemnation was inevitable; his sturdy 
independence did not permit him to evade responsibility 
for his acts. He was found guilty of encouraging the 
religious and political disturbances with which he had been 
charged, opposing the national synod, causing divisions in 
the church by permitting the services of unsound theologians 
and the persecution of true believers, and by exciting dis¬ 
orders in the state with his Sharp Resolve, which suspended 
the authority of the courts and confirmed the town govern¬ 
ments in disobedience to them. The levy of the waart- 
gelders, and the opposition at Utrecht to the authority of 
the states-general and the Prince of Orange, he was also con¬ 
victed of. Other charges on which he was found guilty were : 
attempts to make King James father his opinions on the 
states-general, and to influence the King of France against 
the national synod, rejection of an important alliance without 
the knowledge of the states-general, and receiving presents 
from foreign potentates. The charge of treasonable dealings 
with Spain was wholly abandoned. The states-general publicly 
declared that he was charged with many other crimes which 
could not be proved without stricter examination than was 


522 History of the Netherlands. 

advisable at his great age. This was supposed to refer to 
torture, which was then regarded as a means of extorting 
the truth from offenders.^ 

One question remained for the court, that of the prisoner’s 
punishment. Most of the judges favored imprisonment for 
life ; others proposed to add a death-sentence, the execution 
of which should be suspended till some new emergency. 
The proclamation by the states-general of a day of public 
humiliation and fast for the 17th ‘ of April had already 
alarmed the friends of the advocate by its threatening tone. 
In this crisis Count William Louis, who had urged Maurice 
to the measures which resulted in Barneveld’s conviction, 
appealed to the stadtholder for mercy. He warned him not 
to push the municipal party to extremities, to distrust the 
counsels of the English politicians who misunderstood the 
condition of the country, and not to permit the condem¬ 
nation of Barneveld unless his guilt was as clear as the day. 
“ The eyes of all Europe are upon you,” said the ardent 
count, and by generosity and moderation you will cover 
yourself with glory.” Though popular sentiment favored 
extreme measures, Maurice was now disposed to mercy if it 
could be safely extended. 

It was therefore understood that if Barneveld’s family 
should ask pardon for him it would be granted. But the 
children of the advocate, though urged by the widow of 
William the Silent to take this step, would not consent to 
save their father by falsely acknowledging his guilt. Mau¬ 
rice could not appreciate this chivalrous sentiment; he had 
disapproved of the usual festive May-day celebration by the 
advocate’s family in setting out a Maypole in front of his 
house and decorating the walls with flowers. He thought 

1 The Historical Society of Utrecht have published the questions and 
answers at Barneveld’s trial: “ Verhooren van Johan van Oldenbarneveldt 
uitgegeben daar het historisch genootschap gevestigst te Utrecht,” 1850. 


Barneveld's Doom. 


523 


1619. 

such expressions of joy, and hope for Barneveld’s release 
unseemly, considering the grave offences charged against 
him. 

In this extremity Du Maurier, the French ambassador, 
appealed to the states-general m behalf of the prisoner. But 
France was torn by civil discords, and the successor of the 
potent Henry IV. inspired no fear. Sir Dudley Carleton, the 
English ambassador, refused to aid Du Maurier’s effort to 
stem the current of feeling against the advocate. Mean¬ 
while the temper of his judges had undergone a change. 
Insurrections in favor of the Remonstrants at Horn, Alkmaar, 
and Leyden, fears for the life of the stadtholder, and the 
refusal of Barneveld’s family to ask pardon for him inclined 
the commissioners to extreme severity. Adrian Junius, a 
counsellor of the Court of Holland and the fairest and most 
respected of Barneveld’s judges, who had refused at first to 
serve on the tribunal, and only yielded to the threat of being 
deprived of his office and heavily fined, had stood out for a 
sentence of imprisonment, and was the last to agree to the 
death penalty. “The republic demands an example,” he 
exclaimed, as he made the decision of the court unanimous. 

Though astonished at the fatal news, Barneveld showed no 
fear. While expressing wonder at such treatment of a good 
citizen, he said the judges would have to answer for it before 
God. He then wrote a tender letter to his family concerning 
the sad fate which awaited him after so many years of faith¬ 
ful service to the Fatherland. At his request the Calvinist 
minister Waloeus, who had been a member of the Synod 
of Dort, took a message from him . to Maurice, assuring 
him of his affection for himself and his family, and asking 
forgiveness for any offence which he might have given him 
in the discharge of his duty. ■ He also begged that the prince 
would be gracious to his children. Waloeus, overcome by 
sympathy, asked the aged statesman if he would not permit 


524 History of the Netherlands, 

Jiim to intercede with the stadtholder for his pardon. Barne- 
veld’s only answer was : Relate faithfully to the Prince of 
Orange what I have told you. I wish nothing more.” Mau¬ 
rice was moved to tears by the message, expressed his affec¬ 
tion for the advocate, and said he should protect his sons 
as long as they deserved it, but complained that Barneveld 
had accused him of aspiring to the sovereignty and had 
exposed him to danger at Utrecht. 

Waloeus was leaving the room when the prince called him 
back and asked if the advocate had said anything about a 
pardon. The minister answered that he had not spoken of 
one. On learning from Waloeus of this conversation, Barne¬ 
veld said that the prince had been deceived about the Utrecht 
matter, but acknowledged that he had fears of Maurice’s 
ambition for sovereignty or for greater power since the year 
1600. 

On the night before his execution the advocate gave to 
his faithful servant Franken, with whom the guards by order 
of the judges had not allowed him to converse, his signet 
ring as a dying gift for his eldest son. Being unable to 
sleep, Barneveld solaced himself by religious exercises and 
discussions, and expressed sorrow at the thought that his 
friends Grotius and Hoogerbeets might share his fate. 
“ They,” he said, are young, and may do great service to 
the country; as for me, I am an old and worn-out man.” 

As a forlorn hope, the advocate’s family, the French am¬ 
bassador Du Maurier, and Louisa de Coligny, widow of 
William the Silent, made a last effort in his favor, but in vain. 
His wife and children desired a farewell interview with him, 
but, being kept by the judges in ignorance of their request, 
he declined to see them because of his need of avoiding 
agitation at that late hour. Yet the commissioners gave 
them the idea, according to historians favorable to the 
advocate’s cause, that their fond husband and father had 


i 6 ig. Barneveld on the Scaffold. 525 

refused their petition for an interview. Barneveld’s last letter 
commended Franken, his faithful servant, to their care. 

At about half past eight o’clock in the morning of May 13, 
1619, the advocate was brought before the court to hear his 
sentence in the great hall of justice. At the close of the 
long reading he said: “The judges have put down many 
things which do not agree with my confession. I thought, 
too,” he added, “ that my lords the states would have been 
satisfied with taking my life, and that my wife and children 
would be allowed to keep my property. Is this, then, the 
recompense for forty years’ service to the country?” But 
the president said sharply, “ Your sentence has been pro¬ 
nounced. Away ! away ! ” 

Leaning on his staff and supported by his servant, the old 
man walked calmly to the scaffold in front of the palace and 
facing the Binnenhof, the great courtyard at the Hague. About 
twelve hundred soldiers, including the stadtholder’s guard and 
two English companies, because King James and his ambas¬ 
sador Carleton sustained Maurice, were drawn up in front of 
the platform. Three thousand people in quaint Dutch cos¬ 
tume, the men in sugar-loaf hats, stiff ruffs, cloaks, and knee- 
breeches, and the women in picturesque caps and bright 
dresses, had assembled to witness the execution of the founder 
of the republic amid the scenes of his almost supreme power. 

“ Here he comes ! here he comes ! ” was the cry of the 
expectant multitude as the venerable statesman advanced 
with uncovered head, wearing a long robe of yellowish-brown 
damask. As he saw the preparations for his execution, the 
once proud ruler of the realm exclaimed, “ O God, what does 
man come to ? This is the reward of forty years’ service to 
the state ! ” Then he looked about for a cushion to kneel 
upon, and, not heeding the provost’s offer to procure one, 
knelt on the bare planks while the minister prayed for a 
quarter of an hour. On rising he advanced to the edge of 


526 


History of the Netherlands. 


the scaffold and said to the people : My friends, do not 
believe that I am a traitor. I have ever acted loyally and 
uprightly as a good patriot, and as such I shall die.” He 
then drew his velvet cap over his eyes, commended his soul 
to God, and, bidding the executioner be quick,” knelt to 
receive the death-stroke from the executioner’s huge two- 
handed sword. 

There was a rush to the scaffold as soon as the head had 
fallen, many of the crowd dipping their handkerchiefs in the 
blood and securing stained splinters of wood or soaked hand¬ 
fuls of sand as mementos of affection or of hatred. It was 
even said that in the craze of excitement the precious drops 
were gathered to mix with wine to be drunk in memory of 
the sacrifice. A traffic in the ghastly relics took place at the 
foot of the scaffold. Some* persons were indignant at this 
profanation, and one peasant shouted fiercely as he held his 
handkerchief toward the hucksters, “ Sell me half a rix- 
dollar’s worth of sand soaked in the blood of Barneveld, that 
I may keep it until the day of vengeance ! ” The scene re¬ 
called a similar exhibition at the execution of Egmont and 
Horn; but, alas ! it was the republic which now glutted its 
fury with the blood of its benefactor, of the friend of William 
the Silent, who had humbled the pride of the foreign tyrant 
who had brought those noble victims to the block. 

The remains of the advocate were placed in a rough cof¬ 
fin which had been prepared for a murderer, lately pardoned. 
All the circumstances of the trial and execution showed that 
the object of the government was to prevent Barneveld and 
his sympathizers from profiting by an impressive, display 
which would recall his former position and services. His 
family were forbidden to place his coat-of-arms above the 
door of his house; and to prolong the effect of his punish¬ 
ment the scaffold was left standing. 

On the very day of the execution the states of Holland 



527 


FRAXCISCUS GOMARUS, 









i6i9« Maurice Misrepresented. 529 

solemnly recorded the fact in a resolution, which, after men¬ 
tioning Barneveld’s thirty-three years of service to the state, 
styled him a man of great activity, diligence, memory, and 
wisdom, yea, remarkable in every respect.” “ Let the 
strong,” concludes the resolution, take heed lest he fall, 
and may God be merciful to his soul. Amen ! ” 

The researches of Dutch scholars have given an entirely 
new aspect to the execution of Barneveld, which is still held 
up by foreign writers, in ignorance of the facts, as due to 
Maurice’s ambition for sovereignty. It is now known that 
the prince engaged reluctantly in the work of subjecting the 
provincial governments to the control of the states-general, 
and that, as appears from his correspondence and that of the 
English ambassador. Sir Dudley Carleton, he yielded to the 
earnest appeals of his adviser and friend. Count William 
Louis, the stadtholder of Friesland, from a solemn sense of 
duty to the country, and to preserve it from ruin. The 
execution of Barneveld was not then thought of, but the 
pressure of popular feeling and the sense of public peril 
compelled it. • • 

Maurice would have gladly saved the life of the advocate, 
but he felt that he could not do so while the prisoner and 
his family, by their refusal to ask for clemency, showed that 
he still upheld doctrines which endangered the national 
safety.^ The threatening demonstrations toward the close 

1 The idea that Maurice was influenced by selfish motives in the execution 
of Barneveld rests on an anecdote reported by the gossiping Du Maurier. Its 
improbability has been pointed out by Davies, “History of Holland,” vol. ii. 
p. 469, London, 1851; but it has been much more rigidly examined by Groen 
van Prinsterer, who has shown, by the letters of Count William Louis of Nas¬ 
sau and of the English ambassador Carleton, the true position of the stadt¬ 
holder, as stated in the text. “Maurice et Barnevelt,” Utrecht, 1875. See 
also a suggestive article on Motley’s “John of Barneveld,” in the “North 
American Review,” vol. cxix. p. 459, by the late Professor Diman, who, knowing 
nothing of these letters, was naturally led to wonder at the arrest and exe¬ 
cution of Barneveld, from the fact that Maurice was not a cruel or revengeful, 

34 


530 History of the Netherlands. 

of the trial confirmed the judges in this view of the situation, 
which, however mistaken, was natural in the excited condi¬ 
tion of affairs. 

The execution of Barneveld was one of those terrible out¬ 
bursts of popular fury which are chargeable not upon individ¬ 
uals, but upon the age. It was the result of a disjointed 
political system. As the Union of Utrecht, formed in a time 
of extreme peril to resist a foreign foe, united states of diverse 
character and interests, they reserved rights which were in¬ 
consistent with the growth and strength of the nation. Often 
had the federal power been forced to override these rights 
in support of the union, but not till the truce did this provin¬ 
cialism assume dangerous proportions. 

Religious fanaticism was the occasion, but not the cause, 
of the collision between the general government and the 
states. Unity of belief, the fetich of both Catholics and 
Protestants, was the means employed to compel national con¬ 
solidation. But the evil remained, and the fact that the 
destruction of Barneveld and the proscription of his followers 
did not prevent the recurrence of these troubles showed that 
the national plague-spot could not be extirpated by the 
executioner’s sword. The next great sacrifice had no vital 
religious complications, but the victim, John de Witt, was a 
more potent leader than Barneveld. 

In truth, the advocate has no place among the greatest 
statesmen of his age, — with William the Silent, with Burleigh, 
or with Sully. His was a less comprehensive and penetrating 

but rather an irresolute man. ‘‘1: it not possible,” adds the writer, “that 
here, too, his own purpose was overpowered, that when he seemed the instigator 
he was really th mere instrument, that he was forced beyond his original pur¬ 
pose of a ‘ bloodless revolution,’ by the fierce zeal of the religious faction which 
supported him? ” The view which has been given in the text from an exami¬ 
nation of the original authorities, is accepted by the ablest Dutch historical crit¬ 
ics, by Van Deventer, by Brill, and especially by Fruin,the great constitutional 
historian. Yet, strange to say, the latest English and American cyclopaedias 
repeat the antiquated and unjust judgments against Maurice of Nassau. 


Character of Barneveld, 


531 


1619. 

intellect. He represented the forces which had made the 
republic rich, and which had paid the expenses of the war. 
But the burgher statesman had the narrowness of his position. 
He was cramped by the mercantile element in his charac¬ 
ter and career. Rugged, haughty, shrewd, he was the politi¬ 
cal exponent of the bluff traders who had overawed the 
natives of India, and made the Spaniards themselves pay 
tribute to their purse. His dealings with Leicester showed 
the audacious and subtle political manager, and artifice 
trenched closely on dishonor in his offers to betray the coun¬ 
try to France. It was a sharp rather than a wise bargain that 
he drove with King James for the cautionary towns. 

Barneveld played no great part in the world of European 
politics. He appeared there as a suppliant, not as an arbi¬ 
ter, and it may well be that his haughty bearing not only did 
not become his position, as Jeannin remarked, but that it 
injured his cause. Certainly he did not win laurels as a 
negotiator, and though Henry IV., who knew how to humor 
all sorts of men, could safely pronounce him more resolute 
than Maurice, his great minister depreciated his political 
sagacity. Yet Barneveld had rendered important service to 
the republic. He was in a strict sense its founder, because 
he got rid of Leicester and made the United Provinces inde¬ 
pendent of foreign rule. But in a higher sense he was, as an 
acute French writer has observed, only the second founder 
of the commonwealth which William the Silent assured by his 
noble self-sacrifice. 

In upholding state rights and corporate privileges at a cri¬ 
sis in his country’s history, Barneveld showed his inability to 
grasp the situation. Unity in the national councils was a 
necessity in view of the near expiration of the truce and the 
pressure of Spanish intrigues. The religious differences then 
rife required peaceable adjustment, and it needed but little 
penetration to discern the danger of opposing the rigid Cal- 


532 History of the Netherlands. 

vinism which the people felt was their only safeguard against 
the enemy. Barneveld’s tolerance was in appearance only; 
he, as well as his opponents, demanded unity in religion. It 
was acknowledged by both parties that one or the other of the 
rival sects must prevail in the state, must have possession of 
the splendid churches and cathedrals which in those days 
were deemed all-important for religious worship. The only 
question was whether the church should be national or pro¬ 
vincial, whether the spiritual affairs of the people should be 
regulated by general or local synods. 

Thus the contest was really between state and national sov¬ 
ereignty, and Barneveld, instead of being the champion of 
religious liberty, was simply the advocate of narrow provincial 
privileges which encroached on that liberty. He and his 
self-electing municipal corporations who, after the departure 
of Leicester, ruled the country through the influence of Hol¬ 
land in the states-general, stood out against the popular 
yearning for national unity on behalf of their right to appoint 
ministers and control churches. 

Barneveld’s doctrine that the United Provinces were not a 
nation, but only a body of sovereign states, shows his lack of 
comprehensive statesmanship. The firmness with which he 
clung to his opinions at his trial, his blindness to the signs of 
the times, vindicate his courage at the expense of his judg¬ 
ment. Aside from this iron inflexibility or dogged obstinacy, 
his refusal to seek a pardon seems due to his belief that the 
law would give him protection and redress.^ 

1 Carleton, the English ambassador, wrote that Barneveld, having secretly 
sent the points of his trial to eminent counsel, was assured by them that instead 
of being condemned to death he would receive satisfaction for his wrongs. “It 
is believed (and so his servant doth report) that until the very last instant he 
did not think he should die, which made him never let fall any word tending to 
grace, for fear of prejudicing his cause in reparation of honor and damage, which 
both he and his friends did vainly flatter themselves.” Sir Dudley Carleton to 
Secretary Naunton, May 6, 1619: “ Carleton’s Letters,” p. 364. 


CHAPTER XXXIV. 


ESCAPE OF GROTIUS. 

Secretary Ledenberg, who had been arrested at about the 
same time as Barneveld, had, after making a confession un¬ 
favorable to both, committed suicide from fear of torture and 
to prevent confiscation of his property by a sentence of 
death. But this attempt to save his estate for his children 
was defeated by the judges. They kept his dead body un¬ 
buried till two days after Barneveld’s execution, then sen¬ 
tenced him to be hanged, and had his remains swung in 
chains on a gibbet. After their trial Grotius and Hooger- 
beets hourly expected a sentence of death. Neither of their 
families would ask for pardon because that would amount to 
a confession of guilt. The wife of the great jurist, when urged 
to entreat clemency for her beloved husband, sternly replied, 
“ I shall not do it. If he has merited death, let them cut off 
his head.” 

Grotius did not show so brave a spirit at the trial as Hooger- 
beets. He was eager to make terms with Maurice and to 
offer his services to the prince in his private affairs. On 
hearing that Barneveld had been implicated in treasonable 
dealings with Spain, he did not repel the charge against his 
friend, but only expressed a wish that the advocate might ex¬ 
plain it to the satisfaction of the judges. Grotius complained 
of the unfairness of his trial, and said that perpetual imprison¬ 
ment, to which he and Hoogerbeets were sentenced, was a 
punishment condemned by the Roman jurists and unknown 


'534 History of the Netherlands. 

in the United Provinces. He also complained of the confis¬ 
cation of his property and of the seizure of his papers. 

The castle of Louvestein, to which the two prisoners were 
transferred on the 5th of June, 1619, was to give its name to 
the political party opposed to the stadtholders. When Gro- 
tius entered within its massive walls he was thirty-six years 
of age. He had a handsome face, wavy brown hair and 
beard, a large forehead, keen blue eyes, and regular features. 
The advance of centuries has heightened his reputation as a 
scholar and thinker. He is now universally recognized not 
only as the greatest jurist that Holland ever produced, but as 
one of the profoundest of social philosophers. 

It was Grotius who originated those philanthropic views of 
the relations of different peoples which have so deeply im¬ 
pressed modern thought. He showed the need of making 
wars less frequent and less barbarous, and of preventing un¬ 
necessary hardship to non-combatants. His famous treatise, 
De Jure Belli et Pads Rights of War and Peace ”), antici¬ 
pated by centuries the humane policy which has moderated 
the rigors of civilized warfare. 

Freedom of trade, international arbitration, religious liber¬ 
ality, were also inculcated by this remarkable man, who was 
far in advance of his time as a political teacher. He was 
a prodigy , of accomplishment even in boyhood, composing 
good Latin verses at eight, entering the University of Leyden 
at twelve, and taking his bachelor’s degree on graduating at 
fifteen. He accompanied Barneveld on his mission to France 
in 1598, and Plenry IV. in presenting him to his courtiers said. 
Behold the miracle of Holland ! ” The great king gave 
him his miniature with a gold chain, and the University of 
Orleans conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor 
of Laws. At seventeen he practised in the highest courts at 
the Hague, having previously edited difficult classic authors, 
and at twenty-three was made Attorney General of Holland. 



DELFT HAVEN. 


















































































































































































































i62o. Departure of the Pilgrims. 537 

After composing various learned works he was appointed to 
other high civil offices. As a member of the states of Hol¬ 
land and the states-general his’ varied attainments and abil¬ 
ities had been of great service to Barneveld. His liberal 
theology and unpractical, scholarly ways unfitted him for the 
stormy scenes of the last years of the Truce, and his fame 
is that of an author rather than a statesman. 

In order to prevent the engraved portraits of Grotius from 
being used to excite sympathy for him or the Contra-Remon¬ 
strant cause, the states-general, after ordering the destruction 
of the plates, forbade their sale in the shops. Being pre¬ 
vented by close confinement from indulging in his favorite 
athletic exercises, he kept up his health by whipping a huge 
top several times a day. 

Grotius had been about a year in prison, when an event 
occurred which was to deeply affect the history of American 
liberty; yet amid the political disturbances which absorbed 
public attention in the United Provinces, it was almost unno¬ 
ticed. This was the departure from the little town of Delft- 
Haven, July 22, 1620, of the ship ‘‘Speedwell,” bearing the 
adventurous Pilgrims who afterward landed on Plymouth 
Rock. They had resided in Holland about twelve years, 
covering the period of the Truce, and their minister, Robin¬ 
son, had been a leading disputant against the Arminians in 
Leyden. These daring emigrants to the wilderness little 
dreamed that their embarkation would have such important 
results for republican liberty. 

Books were occasionally sent to Grotius by his .learned 
friends to aid him in his literary labors. One large chest filled 
with these articles had from time to time been forwarded to 
him from the neighboring town of Gorcum. As Madame 
Grotius was allowed to remain with her husband, she and 
the wife of Hoogerbeets often visited this place to buy nec¬ 
essaries for the prisoners, whom they preferred to support 


53 ^ History bf the Netherlands. 

rather than accept the slender allowance of the govern¬ 
ment. ^ 

The death of Madame Hoogerbeets had deprived the wife 
of Grotius of a source of comfort, and the rigid watchfulness 
of the keepers of the prison increased her desire to secure 
her husband’s freedom. She had been suspected by one of 
his judges of buying ropes at Gorcum to aid his escape, 
but an investigation by order of the states-general disproved 
the charge. The faithful woman had devised a better plan. 
Having noticed that the chest used to convey the books was 
no longer examined when it entered or left the castle, she sug¬ 
gested to Grotius to try it. Accordingly he squeezed himself 
in, and lay for two hours with the lid closed as an experiment. 

The secret was then told to the maid-servant, a bright girl 
named Elsie van Howening, who consented to run the risk of 
accompanying the precious freight. Taking advantage of the 
absence of the rigid commandant of the fortress, Madame 
Grotius applied to his wife, .whose favor she had secured by 
small presents, for permission to remove the chest from the 
castle. “ My husl^and,” she said, is wearing himself out 
over these Arminian books, and I shall be glad to get rid of 
them.” 

Nearly two years passed after Grotius was imprisoned 
before he was finally locked up in the chest. The key was 
given to Elsie, and as the day was stormy this served as an 
excuse for her going with it instead of her mistress, who pre¬ 
tended to be indisposed. The soldiers who came into the 
bedroom on Monday morning, March 22, 1621, to get the 
trunk, saw the clothes of Grotius lying on a chair,-and, the 
bed-curtains being drawn, supposed that he had not risen. 

On lifting the chest, one of the men said partly in jest, 
‘‘ What makes it so heavy? The Arminian must be in it.” 

^‘Not the Arminian,” replied the wife of Grotius, pleas¬ 
antly, from the bed; only heavy Arminian books.” 


i 62 i . Grotius escapes to Antwerp, 539 

After much anxiety and danger, the little maid got the 
chest safely to Gorcum by boat. Another peril was now in 
store for the prisoner. Elsie had hired the skipper and his 
son to carry the cheL't to its destination. While they were 
trudging along with it the son said there was something alive 
in the box. The skipper asked Elsie if she heard his son’s 
remark. 

“Oh, yes,” replied the bright little maid, “ Arminian books 
are always alive, always full of life and spirit.” 

At last the chest was safely laid down in the house of a 
friendly shop-keeper named Daatselaer, where Grotius was 
provided with the disguise of a bricklayer. He was then 
taken on his way by a master-mason named Lambertson, and 
after some difficulty succeeded in reaching Waalwyk. There 
the mason took leave of the disguised refugee, after hiring a 
cart to carry him to Antwerp. To allay suspicion, he told 
the driver that his passenger was a bankrupt escaping from 
his creditors. Having to pay some expenses on the road, 
Grotius offered a few coins in utter ignorance of their value. 
This made the carter think him very stupid. On being asked 
at various stopping-places who the queer stranger was, the 
driver answered that he was a bankrupt, and no wonder, for 
he did not know one piece of money from another. There 
was no doubt of his being a fool. 

On nearing Antwerp, Grotius was met by a guard of 
soldiers, who demanded his passport j but when “ Red Rod,” 
the officer in charge, learned his name, he courteously es¬ 
corted him to the city. His friends were astonished and 
delighted to see him, and Antwerp soon rang with his strange 
adventures. Rejecting the offers made to him to prove false 
to his country and religion, he retired to Paris, where he was 
received with high honors and a pension was granted to him 
by Louis XHI. The next year he published his celebrated 
vindication, which was such an attack on the action of the 


540 History of the Netherlands. 

states-general of the re'^ublic, that they forbade its circulation 
there under heavy penalties. Yet it was reprinted and had 
a great sale. 

On Maurice being told of the escape, he said, It is not 
strange that they could not keep Grotius in prison, as he 
is shrewder than all the judges put together.” The stadt- 
holder allowed the faithful wife after a brief imprisonment to 
join her husband in Paris. Elsie, the brave little maid-ser¬ 
vant, married the servant of Grotius, who profited so well by 
his master’s instructions in prison that he became a flourish¬ 
ing lawyer in Holland. 

Grotius remained nine years in France, and wrote there 
his famous work on international law, De Jure Belli et Pads. 
On the death of Maurice and the accession of his brother 
Frederick Henry to the stadtholdership, that moderate ruler, 
who had written to Grotius a year after his escape, 
yielded to the appeals of his wife and friends to have his 
confiscated property restored to him. After an absence of 
ten years Grotius returned to Holland, in 1631, the same year 
that eight Remonstrant ministers escaped from the castle of 
Louvestein. But though they were not interfered with and 
were even permitted to preach, the imprudent conduct of 
Grotius in appearing at once among his old supporters, which 
created a great sensation, led the states-general to order his 
arrest. It was not, however, till a second order was issued, 
three months later, offering a reward for his person, that he 
left the country on the 17th of March, 1632. 

At Hamburg, where he next resided, he received pressing 
invitations from Spain, Portugal, Denmark, and Sweelen. On 
the death of Gustavus Adolphus, who was such an admirer of 
Grotius that his great work on the Rights of War and Peace 
was found in the royal tent after the fall of the heroic mon¬ 
arch on the fatal field of Lutzen, his famous chancellor 
Oxenstiern renewed his offers to the illustrious jurist. He 


i 62 I. 


Death of Philip III. 


541 


was made councillor to the young queen, and was intrusted 
with the difficult post of ambassador to France, which he filled 
for ten years, being recalled at his own request in 1644. 

Grotius died at Rostock, Aug. 28, 1645, 
sixty-two. He was buried in the new church at Delft, and in 
1781 a simple monument was erected over his remains. It 
was not till the three hundredth anniversary of the birth of 
the greatest of Dutch political philosophers that there was 
fitting public recognition of his merits. On the loth of April, 
1883, a grand celebration was held in his honor, and it was 
resolved to erect his statue in the market-place at Delft. 
The Prince of Orange attended the ceremony to lay a wreath 
upon the grave of the man whom the government of a 
predecessor, the greatest warrior who ever bore the title, had 
forced into imprisonment and exile. The lesson is a needful 
one for republics, which, if not more ungrateful than mon¬ 
archies, are at least more likely to sacrifice their illustrious 
citizens to popular clamor. 

As the twelve years’ truce was drawing to a close amid 
grave dissensions in the United Provinces, the Archduke 
Albert thought they could be won back to Spain. He had 
therefore sent Peter Pecquius, Chancellor of Brabant, in 
March, 1621, to urge their submission. But the states- 
general scornfully rejected this proposal, and Pecquius had 
to be protected by soldiers from the popular fuiy. Before 
the war could be renewed, Philip HI. died on the 31st of 
March, 1621, after a reign of twenty-three years. The war¬ 
like and intriguing policy of his government had still further 
weakened the finances of the kingdom, and enabled the 
province of Biscay to recover its liberties. The success of 
the United Provinces dispelled the glamour of Spanish glory 
which had so long imposed upon Europe. 

The new king, Philip IV., who ascended the throne at the 
age of seventeen, was, like his father, ruled by a favorite who 


542 History ' of the Netherlands. 

persisted in the policy which had brought so many evils on 
the country. The death of the Archduke Albert on the 13th 
of July, 1621, was another misfortune for the Spanish Nether¬ 
lands. Although not a great general, he had proved himself 
an accomplished and brave commander, and during the truce 
showed by his internal improvements and reforms his desire 
to benefit the distracted country. Unfortunately his good 
intentions were neutralized by the repressive system of gov¬ 
ernment which he felt bound to maintain. The archdukes 
neglected to assemble the states-general after the year 1600, 
and sought to suppress religious liberty by strengthening the 
authority of the monks and priests, and by punishing heretics 
and sorcerers by whipping and banishment. 

Yet the Archduke Albert had many attractive personal 
qualities; he was a liberal patron of art and letters, and had 
marked literary and mathematical tastes. The Flemish school 
of painters shone with rare brilliancy under his rule, being 
adorned by the genius of Teniers, of Grayer, of Vandyke, of 
Jordaens, and especially of the illustrious Rubens, who was 
favored by the arqjidukes with many marks of confidence. 
Their reign was fruitful in scholarship and taste. The univer¬ 
sity of Louvain was then the chief European seat of learning, 
having more than six thousand students attracted by the 
fame of Justus Lipsius, Valerius Andreas, Vernuloeus, and 
other eminent professors. 

The archdukes mingled freely with the people, and, like 
Charles V., entered into the national sports and pastimes, 
shooting the gilded_ popinjay with the cross-bow men and 
joining in the village dances. But their vicious system of 
government obliged them to send Spinola with troops to 
overawe Brussels in September, 1619, and paved the way 
for a long period of decline under foreign domination. 

By the Archduke Albert’s death the obedient provinces 
were again subjected to Spanish rule. Isabella ceased to be 


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i 622 . Plot against Maurices Life. 545 

sovereign of the country and became simply its governor. 
Though deeply religious and devoted to what she believed to 
be the welfare of the people, she lacked her husband’s vigor 
of character, and was controlled by female favorites. 

The expiration of the twelve years’ truce in August, 1621, 
was soon followed by a renewal of the war. The United 
Provinces were now without foreign aid. They had lost 
the favor of France by the execution of Barneveld, and Eng¬ 
land was in close alliance with Spain. The terrible Thirty 
Years’ War was raging between Catholics and Protestants in 
Germany, and Frederick, the Elector-Palatine, whom the 
states had aided with money, was defeated by the Spanish 
army under Spinola, and obliged to take refuge in Holland. 
Although Prince Maurice succeeded in forcing his old rival 
to raise the siege of Bergen-op-Zoom in the autumn of 1622, 
this was the last success he was destined to enjoy. The 
death of Barneveld seemed to have darkened his fortunes. 
A conspiracy now threatened his life. 

By this plot the widow of Barneveld was to suffer still more 
for the acts of those near and dear to her. She was now 
greatly reduced in fortune. A year after her husband’s exe¬ 
cution, she and her children claimed as members of noble 
families the right, which was only barred in cases of high 
treason, to redeem his confiscated estates on payment of a' 
small sum. Though Barneveld had not been sentenced for 
this crime, his surviving judges agreed that he had been guilty 
of it because his property had been confiscated. The fact that 
his offences were technically lawful had prevented his judges 
from publicly convicting him of the gravest offence known to 
the law, from concern for the lives of others who had done 
nothing to endanger the public safety. To such melan¬ 
choly inconsistency were they, forced by popular pressure 
and the supposed necessity of making an awful example of 
Barneveld. 


35 


546 


History of the Netherlands. 


The advocate had left two sons, and at his request Maurice 
had promised to protect them as long as they behaved 
well. But on the 7th of July, 1620, the states of Holland 
declared that it was unbearable to have the eldest son of 
Oldenbarneveld remain in such an office as Forester of the 
Province of Holland, and the Prince of Orange was re¬ 
quested to dispose of that and also of the Inspectorship of 
the Dykes of Delftland, that it might be bestowed upon some 
good patriot. The eldest son, Reinier, Lord of Groeneveld, 
was therefore dismissed, ‘^by resolution,” on the loth of July, 
and on the 21st he petitioned the states to revoke it and to 
intercede with the stadtholder on his behalf, but his petition 
was rejected. The second son, Stoutenberg, was also de¬ 
prived of the government of Bergen-op-Zoom.^ 

It is a reproach to Maurice of Nassau that he violated his 
promise to protect the sons of Barneveld; but in the prevail¬ 
ing popular hatred of the advocate’s family and distrust of 
their patriotism, it is not surprising that his impressible nature 
yielded to the storm. The victims, however, at last deprived 
themselves of sympathy. Groeneveld, the elder, was a reputa¬ 
ble young man, but Stoutenberg was notorious for dissipation 
and extravagance. In his desperation he resolved to destroy 
the prince and thus revolutionize the government; but as the 
universally esteemed Frederick Henry was Certain to succeed 

1 These facts are related by Brandt, the recognized authority on the subject. 
“ History of the Reformation in and about the Low Countries,” vol. iv. p. 147. 
London, 1721. Yet English and American historians of the Netherlands, 
who have referred to the removal of the sons of Barneveld from office, have 
charged it wholly to Maurice of Nassau, or have implied that he was the only 
person responsible for it. But it is evident that, as in the case of Barneveld, so 
in that of his sons, the stadtholder acted under tremendous pressure, the states 
of Holland, the representative popular assembly, having inexorably dismissed 
the victims. Justice therefore demands that the whole truth be stated. Modern 
writers ought to be at least as fair as the Arminian minister Brandt, who, while 
saying that the Prince of Orange seems to have forgotten his promise in favor 
of the sons of Barneveld, mentions facts which clearly limit his responsibility. 



NATIONAL MONUMENT AT THE HAGUE. 






































1623. Meetmg of the Conspirators. 549 

to his brother’s authority, the Contra-Remonstrants being in 
full power and the Remonstrants being opposed to violent 
measures, the project was a suicidal one. 

Nearly four years passed away before Stoutenberg’s wild 
scheme of vengeance was complete. ‘ He had enlisted seven 
or eight men in the plot, two of them being Catholics, the rest 
Arminians, under the lead of Henry Slatius, a deposed 
preacher of disreputable character. 

As none of the conspirators would risk their own lives, it 
was resolved to hire assassins. Twenty men were engaged 
for the job, which was to be performed while the prince was 
taking his daily drive in the country. About twenty-five 
hundred dollars were required to pay expenses ; and as alb the 
conspirators were poor, Stoutenberg applied to his brother 
Groeneveld for the amount. His hesitation being overcome 
by threats and appeals, he agreed to loan the money, in the 
behef that this and the rest of his property would be saved in 
case of the success of the scheme to overthrow the govern¬ 
ment as well as to destroy the stadtholder. 

There was a meeting of three of the conspirators on Sun¬ 
day, Feb. 5, 1623, at a tavern at the Hague called the 
“ Golden Helmet.” A chest containing arms and ammuni¬ 
tion had been sent there the night before on pretence that 
it contained books and papers in a lawsuit. The chest had 
been taken to the conspirators’ room by four Rotterdam 
sailors who had been tempted by the payment of a hundred 
and fifty dollars in gold to each and the promise of promotion 
and more money, to engage in a dangerous undertaking 
which was said to be of great service to the country. Fear¬ 
ing that some crime was intended, the sailors sought out the 
stadtholder, and showed the gold which Slatius had given 
them, in proof of their story. Suspecting the nature of the 
scheme, Maurice summoned the authorities of the law, who 
had the taverns seized and strangers in them arrested. 


550 


History of the Netherlands. 


One of the conspirators was examining the contents of the 
chest at the ‘‘Golden Helmet” when the search took place. 
Learning the arrest of the three sailors, he boldly ventured 
forth, the guard letting him pass on the word of a waiter that 
he was a well-known boarder at the tavern. He then went 
to the house of the widow Barneveld, and warned Stouten- 
berg of his danger. He and the other conspirators made 
haste to escape. 

A reward of two thousand dollars was offered for the arrest 
of each of the ringleaders. Thanksgiving for the safety of the 
stadtholder was publicly celebrated in the churches on the 
second day after the discovery of the plot. The states-gen- 
eral denounced the conspiracy as an Arminian scheme to 
betray the country to Spain. The Remonstrants were fiercely 
assailed by preachers of the rival sect for the crimes of a 
handful of desperadoes. Few dared to appear in public 
places. Numbers abandoned the hated faith and joined 
the Contra-Remonstrants, but the leaders publicly protested 
against this new outburst of religious persecution. 

The preacher Slatius and three other chief conspirators 
were soon arrested and imprisoned. Stoutenberg got himself 
carried in a chest to the house of a fiddler in Rotterdam, who, 
in recompense for past favors, secured his escape and that of 
his cousin to Brussels. He afterward entered the service 
of Spain. His wife, Walburg de Marnix, daughter of the illus¬ 
trious St. Aldegonde, abandoned the assassin and traitor. 
She had borne poverty and reproach for Barneveld’s offence, 
but she had been trained in too high a school of honor to 
remain united to his miserable son. 

Groeneveld, who was in the depths of despair at the dis¬ 
covery of the plot, was induced by his wife to flee for safety. 
Having reached the fishing village of Scheveningen, three 
miles from the Hague, he was provided with a boatman’s dis¬ 
guise by a friendly fisherman who offered to convey him to 


--Cl' , . ,-i . ' V -V . . / 





ON THE BEACH AT SCHEVENINGEN, 


551 


































1623 . 


Execution of Groeneveld. 


553 


England or Hamburg. Dreading to venture out on the 
stormy ocean in a small boat Groeneveld wandered along the 
coast, and at last fell into the hands of his pursuers on a 
desolate island, and was taken to prison. The fidelity of a 
boatman and a fisherman to the fugitive sons of Barneveld 
despite the liberal reward for their capture, is a bright spot in 
this dreary record of dishonor. 

The widow of Barneveld, overcome by grief, vainly begged 
pardon from Maurice for Groeneveld. Being asked by the 
stadtholder why she now solicited mercy for her son, hav¬ 
ing refused to do so for her husband, she answered nobly, 
“ Because my son is guilty, and my husband was not.” 

Torture \vas used to force a confession from some of the 
prisoners, who were afterward executed. Groeneveld was 
spared that horror; but he was, beheaded. May 29, on the 

Green Sod,” the place of execution for common criminals. 
He met his fate with calm dignity, acknowledging his crime, 
and with his face turned at the last toward his father’s house. 
There was a general regret that the genial Groeneveld had to 
suffer while the unpopular Stoutenberg escaped. Maurice 
himself, while feeling bound to make an example of all the 
prisoners, is said to have declared that he wished the position 
of the two brothers had been reversed. The four Rotterdam 
sailors were each presented with a gold medal, a silver-hilted 
sword, and a sum of money, by order of the states-general, 
for their exposure of the plot. 

While the Remonstrants suffered unjustly from the odium 
of the attempted assassination, the power and popularity of 
the stadtholder were increased by its failure. It was felt that 
the conspiracy was a blow at the republic through the life of 
the great soldier and patriot who had saved it by his trium¬ 
phant sword. The degree of sympathy which was felt for 
Barneveld was withheld from his wretched sons. 


CHAPTER XXXV. 


THE STADTHOLDER, FREDERICK HENRY. 

The Spaniards took advantage of the internal troubles of 
the United Provinces to renew their assaults. In August, 
1624, Spinola besieged Breda, the family inheritance of the 
princes of Orange, which Maurice was unable to relieve. In 
this crisis the states prevailed upon France to aid them with 
a large loan for three years. Richelieu, the great statesman 
who controlled the councils of Louis XIII., was glad of this 
opportunity to curb the power of the house of Austria. 

In order to enable the French minister to secure necessary 
peace at home, the states allowed him to use their fleet against 
the Huguenot insurgents of Rochelle. This act excited the 
complaints of the Calvinist ministers in the United Provinces, 
which created such a feeling among the people in favor of the 
French Protestants that the fleet was recalled, to the indigna¬ 
tion of Richelieu whose assistance was delayed for some 
time. 

Another ally now aided the republic. King James, who 
had been disappointed in his hopes of the marriage of his son 
Charles with the Infanta of Spain as a means of restoring the 
Palatinate to the elector, agreed to supply six thousand men, 
the expense to be repaid at the conclusion of peace. The 
loss of Barneveld, however, prevented the nation from prof¬ 
iting by this aid ; and Maurice complained in his coarse way, 
‘^As long as the old rascal was alive we had counsels and 
money; now there is no finding either the one or the 
Other.” 



THE HARBOR OF ROCHELLE. 










































1625. Death of Maurice of Nassau, 557 

Worn out by his warlike labors and civic trials, the stadt- 
holder could not rally from the effects of lingering disease, 
and died on the 23d of April, 1625, at the age of fifty-eight. 
Maurice of Nassau was one of the greatest generals of his age, 
and his military ability, which his father lacked, was combined 
with the family coolness and tenacity which enabled him to 
humble the pride of Spain and ensure the independence of 
his country. His methods were admirably suited to his ends. 
As his army was srnall, he relied largely on engineering 
and left nothing to chance. Unlike the daring Spinola, he 
could not afford a misstep. Yet he showed at Nieuport that, 
although yielding to Barneveld in beginning the campaign, 
he had nerve enough when the ordeal of battle came. The 
Fabian policy was abandoned when victory demanded the 
audacity of genius. 

Maurice lacked his father’s geniality; the coarseness of his 
mother, the unfortunate Anna of Saxony, affected him, and 
no doubt fostered that craving humor,” as Sir Ralph Win- 
wood, the English ambassador, called it, which was shown in 
his claims in connection with the truce. Yet it should be 
remembered that he had fairly won his recompense, and that 
peace was to deprive him of the coveted prizes of his profes¬ 
sion. There was a certain irresoluteness in Maurice’s charac¬ 
ter, which accounts for the ascendency so long exercised over 
him by Barneveld, and which made him hesitate in adopting 
the policy urged upon him by his cousin William Louis that 
resulted in the execution of the aged advocate. 

Outside of Holland, Maurice of Nassau is generally re¬ 
garded as having been mastered by an ambition for sov-. 
ereignty, when the truth is that he resisted the temptations 
urged by the representatives of France and England and 
even suggested by Barneveld himself This refusal to grasp 
the sovereignty which was offered to his father, and was 
generally regarded as his due, is the best evidence of his 


558 


History of the Netherlands, 


disinterestedness. Maurice of Nassau was a true patriot, and 
though forced by religious fanaticism and popular feeling to 
acts technically unlawful, a sense of duty to his country and 
his God was his ruling motive. 

It is not upon Maurice, but upon his age and especially 
upon the defects of the Dutch constitution, that history must 
charge those acts of his which in ignorance of the truth have 
been most severely censured. Considering his temptations 
to abuse his trust, the adulation of the people, and the 
glamour of military success, there seems something of stoical 
virtue in his devotion to duty. In the line of illustrious 
princes of the house of Orange there is no more splendid 
name than that of the great warrior whose sword was ever at 
the service of his country, whether against the foreign foe or 
the more insidious internal dangers that threatened to sap the 
very foundations of the republic. 

As Maurice had no legitimate children, he had induced 
his brother Frederick Henry, to whom he left his estates, to 
marry, about three weeks before his death, Amalia van Solms, 
in order to preserve the family descent. She was a beautiful 
and accomplished woman, and exercised great influence over 
Frederick Henry. Being fond of political management, her 
agency in the foreign policy of the republic in time became 
very marked. Deeply attached to her husband, she made his 
secretary, who accompanied him to the war, inform her reg¬ 
ularly of all the details of events. A multitude of these little 
missives, which are written in microscopic characters on bits 
of paper to avoid discovery by the enemy, are preserved in 
the archives of the house of Orange-Nassau. 

The states-general conferred upon Frederick Henry the 
offices of captain and admiral-general, and he was soon 
elected stadtholder of all the provinces except Groningen and 
Friesland, which were under the government of Ernest Casimir. 
Frederick Henry, now forty-one years of age, besides being 


1628. 


Exploits of Piet Heyn. 


559 


an able general, had political abilities which were needed in 
the distracted condition of the country. He allayed the 
religious bitterness which had become so rife, and united all 
parties in patriotic opposition to Spain. The new king of 
England, Charles I., who succeeded to the tlfrone on the 
death of his father, March 27, 1625, was prevailed upon to 
continue the alliance with the states, despite the serious 
troubles which had occurred between his subjects and the 
Dutch in India. 

Though Frederick Henry could not save Breda, its capture, 
June 2, 1625, after a ten months’ siege, exhausted the enemy’s 
resources and enabled him to take Groll in the summer 
of 1627. The recall of Spinola in disgrace by the cabi¬ 
net of Philip IV., whose incapacity he had exposed, was 
another blow to their cause. Isabella’s chief counsellor was 
now the Cardinal de la Cueva, and the command of the troops 
was given to Count Henry van den Berg, one of the nephews 
of William the Silent, upon whom the Spanish government 
had lavished riches and honors as a reward for his long 
military service. 

There was a gallant officer in the West India Company’s 
employ named Piet, or Peter, Heyn, who from a herring fish¬ 
erman had risen to be commander of their fleet. When a 
private trading-captain, he had captured many Spanish vessels 
and was raised to the rank of admiral for a splendid victory 
in Brazil. His most famous though not his greatest achieve¬ 
ment was now to be performed. Being sent out with twenty- 
four ships towards America to intercept the Spanish treasure 
galleons known as the silver fleet, he chased them into the 
harbor of Matanzas, early in September, 1628; and as they 
had run aground, he boarded them from his boats in the 
shallow water. The booty which he carried home was valued 
at five million dollars. There were nearly one hundred and 
fifty thousand pounds of pure silver, besides gold and pearls 


56o 


History of the Netherlands. 


of great value. The modest Heyn was publicly thanked 
by the states-general and appointed Lieutenant-Admiral. 
He was killed on the 17th of June^ 1629, in a desperate 
encounter with the pirates of Dunkirk, having boldly run his 
vessel betw*een two of their ships. His crew avenged his 
loss by slaughtering the captured privateersmen. A public 
funeral was given to the lamented hero, and a monument was 
erected to him, near that of William the Silent, in the new 
church at Delft, which has been called the Westminster 
Abbey of Holland. 

The treasure captured by Piet Heyn enabled the Dutch to 
make fresh preparations for war. These alarmed the obedient 
provinces, in which public discontent with Spanish rule had 
been excited by some of the nobles and leading citizens. The 
ministry were accused of sacrificing Spinola to unworthy jeal¬ 
ousy, of embroiling the people with the Spaniards by their 
misgovernment, and impoverishing them by their greed. 

Profiting by these troubles, Frederick Henry besieged the 
strongly fortified city of Bois-le-Duc, which surrendered in 
four months. Sept. 14, 1629, despite the efforts of Count van 
den Berg to relieve it and to force his retreat by invading the 
province of Utrecht. The stadtholder’s masterly achievement 
and the capture of Wesel in Cleves, where the Spaniards had 
their military supplies, laid open the obedient provinces to 
the enemy, and a general invasion-was feared. The nobles 
and clergy exerted themselves in this crisis, and the cabinet at 
Madrid was urged to allay the discontent caused by the exclu¬ 
sion of natives from the government. The Archduchess Isa¬ 
bella had pawned all her jewels for the defence of the country, 
and the states of Brabant contributed eight hundred thousand 
dollars. 

During the recent devastations of the enemy in the United 
Provinces the states exhibited the resolute spirit which had 
saved the land in earlier days. By their orders the flood- 



RUBENS. 






























1630. Dutch Treaty with France. 563 

gates of the ocean were opened at Muyden, and the whole 
country from the city of Utrecht to the Zuyder Zee was laid 
under water. 

Although Philip IV. would not yield to the demands of 
the Belgian clergy and nobility for self-government, he allowed 
Isabella to send deputies to the Hague to propose a renewal 
of the truce for twenty-four years. But, the policy of Car¬ 
dinal Richelieu seconding the spirit of the Dutch people, the 
offer was rejected, and a treaty was made with France, in 
July, 1630, by which in consideration of a large annual loan 
the states agreed not to make peace without the king’s 
advice. In order to offset this aid the painter Rubens was 
sent on a mission from Madrid to seek English support, and 
thus Charles I. was induced to secretly promise to aid Spain 
against the republic. 

During the year 1631 Frederick Henry invaded Flanders to 
assail the pirates of Dunkirk, but returned by the advice of the 
deputies of the states-general in his camp, who were alarmed 
by the advance into Holland of the Marquis of Santa Cruz, 
the successor of Spinola, as commander-in-chief with an 
army of twelve thousand men. The stadtholder’s pride was 
touched by this interference of the deputies; but a great 
naval victory over the enemy’s fleet, which sought to sever 
communication between Holland and Zealand, soon cheered 
the disappointed prince. The information upon which the 
Spaniards had acted had been furnished by Stoutenberg, the 
escaped son of Barneveld. 

As a reward for the services of the Prince of Orange, the 
states-general settled the right of succession to his offices as 
stadtholder and captain and admiral-general upon his son, 
a child of five years. It was a grateful, but, as experience 
proved, an imprudent act. Meanwhile the power of the 
Dutch in India and South America continued to increase 
through the efforts of their great military and trading com- 


564 History of the Netherlands. 

panics. By the influence of Frederick Henry the religious 
dissensions which had caused so much evil to the country 
were moderated, and the Remonstrants were allowed greater 
liberty than they had enjoyed for a long time. 

Two disappointed Belgian magnates, the Count of Warfus^e, 
chief of the finance council, and Count van den Berg, nephew 
of William the Silent, intrigued with Frederick Henry, in the 
winter of 1631, to throw off the Spanish yoke. In the spring 
of 1632 Carondelet, a treacherous confidant of Isabella, sought 
the same object from Cardinal Richelieu on behalf of the 
discontented Walloon nobles, among whom were such bear¬ 
ers of historic titles as the Duke of Aerschot, the Prince of 
Espinoy, and Count Louis Egmont. 

Frederick Henry now prepared to invade Gelderland, and, 
to incite the people to revolt, the states-general of the United 
Provinces proclaimed, on the 22d of May, 1632, their resolve 
to aid them to throw off the yoke of Spain and secure their 
liberties as well as the public exercise of the Catholic re¬ 
ligion. The stadtholder’s march into Gelderland was a series 
of successes; in less than eight days he conquered nearly all 
the country; and at last the city of Maestricht, which in a 
much weaker state had resisted the Duke of Parma for nine 
months, surrendered, August 22, in spite of the attempts of 
three armies to relieve it. The Archduchess Isabella had 
appealed successfully to several of the Walloon nobles when 
Maestricht was threatened, and the intrigues of Richelieu, 
who regarded a united Netherlands as more dangerous than 
Spain to French power, aided in restoring harmony. The 
most vigorous efibrt to succor Maestricht was made by the 
imperial troops under Count Pappenheim, who fought with 
desperate valor. Among the killed on the side of the be¬ 
siegers were two members of an English family that had 
done noble service in the cause of Netherland freedom. 
They were Aubrey de Vere, nineteenth Earl of Oxford, and 



MAESTRICHT, 


565 
















































1633’ Death of the Archduchess Isabella. 567 

his brother Colonel Vere. Count Ernest Casimir, who had 
been recently killed before Ruremonde, added another to the 
members of the Nassau family who had laid down their lives 
for their adopted country. His place as Stadtholder of 
Friesland and Groningen was filled by his son Henry Casimir 
of Nassau-Dietz. 

The fall of Maestricht, which was followed by that of other 
important places, forced Isabella to yield to the demands 
of the discontented nobles to assemble the states-general of 
the obedient provinces, which had not been convoked since 
the year 1600. It opened at Brussels, Sept. 9, 1632. At the 
demand of the assembly. Cardinal de la Cueva and the Mar¬ 
quis of Santa Cruz were dismissed. They had to be pro¬ 
tected from the popular fury before leaving the country. 
The new chief of the army was the Marquis of Aytona, grand 
seneschal or high steward of the kingdoms of Castile and 
Arragon, who w'as considered a wise statesman, but who was 
without military experience. 

Negotiations for peace with the United Provinces were now 
renewed, but they failed from the refusal of the states-general 
at Brussels to agree to religious toleration and renunciation 
of Spanish rule. The republic’s terms, which included the 
closing of the Scheldt, were hard; but they promised better 
than the foreign domination which had proved so burdensome. 
The Belgian nobles seem either to have been duped by 
Spanish wiles or to have feared that their power would be 
overshadowed by that of the Dutch. The war party in the 
republic was supported by Cardinal Richelieu, who feared 
a united Netherlands. While the negotiations were going 
on Frederick Henry besieged Rheinberg, which surrendered 
early in June, 1633. 

Hopes of peace were blasted by the death of the Arch¬ 
duchess Isabella, which took place on the 30th of November, 
1633. She was sixty-seven years of age, and despite her 


568 History of the Netherlands. 

incapacity as a ruler, the daughter of Philip II. had inspired 
the love and respect of the Belgians by her interest in their 
welfare. Yet such was the low ebb to which the Spanish 
system of government had reduced the finances of the court 
of Brussels that it could not render to the departed princess 
the funeral honors which she had requested. 

In her youth Isabella possessed much personal beauty, 
and she preserved in advanced years a majestic bearing. 
She had been trained by her royal father to close application 
to business ; but though inheriting his ardent devotion to the 
Catholic faith, she had a dash and spirit which were wanting 
in the cloistered king. She took part in hunts and tourna¬ 
ments, and gained prizes for skill with the cross-bow at the 
village festivals. Her manners were more attractive to the 
Belgians than those of her husband, which had something of 
Spanish gravity and reserve. Endeared to the people by her 
benevolent disposition, she employed her last hours in care 
for their interests. Observing one of her officers in tears, 
she said with a laugh, “ See that man; he does not wish me 
to die ! ” It was unfortunate for the ol:)edient provinces that 
two juntas, one composed entirely of Spaniards, and the 
other directed by them, should have neutralized the well- 
meaning, though often mistaken efforts of Isabella for their 
welfare. 






CHAPTER XXXVI. 


WEAKNESS OF THE SPANISH NETHERLANDS. 


While Frederick Henry had a strong war party behind him, 
he had a zealous opponent in a man who was destined to 
wield great political power in the United Provinces. This 
was Adrian Pauw, Lord of Heemstede, who became Grand 
Pensionary of Holland in 1631. His influence in favor of 
peace with the obedient provinces was already so great that 
Richelieu wondered that a single man could oppose such 
obstacles to the government, and he thought that either 
Frederick Henry or his antagonist must go down.^ At this 
time Pauw, whom the French prime minister chose to call 
a friend of Spain, influenced the states of Holland much as 
Barneveld formerly did, and in order to get rid of him he was 
sent on various diplomatic missions and kept in honorable 
exile. His post as Grand Pensionary was given to Jacob 
Cats, the poet whose simple tales are so dear to the Dutch 
peasant; but the time was coming when Pauw was to be 
the ruler of the republic. Frederick Henry always had to 
contend against the states of Holland, and the old pro- 

1 This is the way in which the real ruler of France wrote to his ambassador 
at the Hague : “ If Pauw continues his opposition, and the Prince of Orange 
persists in his good resolutions, it seems that one of them must be ruined; 
but, to speak plainly, without making any comparison between them, it is ab¬ 
solutely necessary that the Prince of Orange should ruin Pauw if he does not 
wish to lose the credit and authority that he ought to have in the states.” 
Richelieu to Charnace, Jan. i, 1634: “Archives de la Maison d’Orange- 
Nassau,” 2 ^ serie, tom. iii. p. 42. 


570 History of the Netherlands. 

vincial jealousy was destined to become more powerful than 
ever. 

The Marquis of Aytona, who on the death of the Arch¬ 
duchess Isabella was placed in temporary charge of the gov¬ 
ernment of the Spanish Netherlands, executed in the spring 
of 1634, the king’s orders against the nobles concerned in 
the recent conspiracy. Count Warfusde had already been 
doomed to banishment, and his proj)erty had been confis¬ 
cated. Van den Berg was now sentenced to death, and the 
Duke of Aerschot was arrested while in fancied security in 
Madrid. Carondelet, governor of Bouchain, being assailed 
while parleying with Aytona, killed four of his assailants, but 
was at last struck down with the butt-end of a musket.. Other 
conspirators made their escape. These severities, which had 
been incited by fears of fresh outbreaks, spread such alarm 
throughout the country that, to allay the desperation of the 
nobles which threatened serious revolt, the Marquis of Ay¬ 
tona published a general pardon, excepting only the con¬ 
demned and fugitive grandees. 

An important change now took place in Dutch dealings 
with France. From 1624 to 1634 the United Provinces 
had been aided by Richelieu against Spain, with sums varying 
from a million to eleven hundred and fifty thousand dollars a 
year, on condition that they should not make a peace or 
truce with the enemy without the knowledge, advice, or 
intervention of France. This left the Dutch free to end the 
war at will, not being bound to accept their ally’s advice. 
But on the 15th of April, 1634, a treaty was signed at the 
Hague, binding the United Provinces, in case of being aided 
by a French army, not to conclude a peace or truce with 
the enemy for seven years, unless conjointly and by consent 
of France. This treaty was made to baffle the truce party 
in Holland. Instead of being the work of Richelieu, as 
historians have generally supposed, the publication qf the 





i 


THE HOTEL DEVILLE, BRUSSELS, 


571 








































i 635- Dutch Relations with France. 573 

diplomatic correspondence in the Dutch archives proves that 
it was designed by Frederick Henry and Aerssens, Lord of 
Sommelsdyk, the old opponent of Barneveld. They believed 
that the safety of the country lay in continuing hostilities; 
but the treaty was opposed by Amsterdam and three other 
cities in the states of Holland, as placing the country in the 
power of France. 

When the Spanish government heard of this alliance they 
dissolved the states-general of the obedient provinces, whose 
tame submission to this decree, which was registered in the 
Belgian assembly July 5, 1634, left the country at the mercy 
of its foreign masters.^ Meanwhile Frederick Henry and 
Aerssens had followed up the treaty with France by tempt¬ 
ing Richelieu to battle vigorously against Spain while she 
was busy in the Thirty Years’ War. The Dutch proposal 
was that the two powers should conquer the obedient prov¬ 
inces and divide their territories between them. But Riche¬ 
lieu thought it safer to have a barrier between France and 
the United Provinces. A treaty was therefore signed at 
Paris, Feb. 5, 1635, providing for the invasion of the Spanish 
Netherlands by the allies with forty thousand men. The 
invaded provinces were to be invited to revolt on assurance of 
securing their independence, and only in case of refusal were 
they to be divided among the conquerors. The zealous Dutch 
Calvinists opposed the provision of the , treaty permitting 
Catholic worship in the subdued places; but when Frederick 
Henry was appealed to against it, he said : “ Do we not allow 


1 A standard Belgian historian laments that this assembly did nothing to pre¬ 
vent the disasters which were to afflict the country. “ Mistress of the destinies 
of Belgium, it was unequal to the part which circumstances imposed upon it. 
Fatal pusillanimity! whose disastrous results were shown not only in the dis¬ 
continuance for more than a century of the national assembly, but especially by 
the new dismemberments which the inheritance of Charles V. had to suffer.” 
Juste, “ Histoire de Belgique,” tom. ii. p. 148. 4to. 


574 


History of the Netherla7ids, 


in the Indies the idolatrous rites of the Chinese and Hindoos ? 
Is it better to forego the acquisition of Antwerp than to per¬ 
mit there the exercise of the Catholic religion? Does not 
such a claim bar us from introducing our own? ” 

The new governor of the obedient provinces was the Car¬ 
dinal Ferdinand of Austria, brother of Philip IV. Arriving 
at Brussels, Nov. 4, 1634, after his great victory over the 
Swedes at Nordlingen, he had a triumphal reception in the 
gay capital, nobles and citizens uniting to do him honor. As 
he rode in the grand procession, arrayed in cloth of gold and 
bearing the sword of Charles V., the houses along the route 
were decorated with tapestries and illuminated by torches. He 
gave the command of his army to Prince Thomas of Savoy, 
the successor of the Marquis of Aytona, who was defeated 
May 20, 1635, by the French marshals, Chatillon and Breze, 
the former a cousin of Frederick Henry and the latter a 
brother-in-law of Cardinal Richelieu, near Aveine in Luxem¬ 
burg. The stadtholder did not join them till late in the sum¬ 
mer, owing to the delay of the states of Holland in providing 
supplies for the unwelcome war. 

The allied armies stormed the city of Tirlemont, June 8, 
1635 i but their frightful devastations roused the indignant 
Belgians to rally to the support of the Spanish commander. 
At the siege of Louvain, the seat of the famous university, 
nobles, burghers, and students united to repel the invaders. 
Though Frederick Henry held the supreme command, he 
could not disregard the counsels of the French generals, and 
the failures of the campaign were largely due to their mis¬ 
taken policy. The prince vainly attempted to restrain the 
barbarities of the soldiers, though he afterward punished their 
authors. The Spaniards marched from victory to victory, 
carrying the war into the republic and even into France. 
Pestilence at last ravaged the ranks of the French, many 
officers were reduced to want, and the city of Amsterdam 


The Tulipomania. 


1637. 


575 


became a pest-house. Not more than half the troops of 
Louis XIII. lived to return home. 

During the year 1636 the government of the republic was 
obliged to use force to compel the province of Friesland to 
pay its share of the expenses of the war. The difficulty 
was of long standing, and had caused serious tumults. At 
last, the town governments having been changed by permis¬ 
sion of the states of the province, and the stadtholder’s au¬ 
thority rejected, the states-general used the military to restore 
them, and compel payment of the dues. Thus the rights of 
the separate provinces had to be again overridden in order 
to carry on the national government. 

To spur his lagging republican allies. Cardinal Richelieu 
not only promised them a large sum of money, but sought to 
win the support of Frederick Henry by securing for him the 
title of Highness as a mark of royal favor. But the jealous 
states-general, though obliged to yield to this demand, were 
displeased at a grant by a foreign power to one of their subjects. 
They became more distrustful of France. The stadtholder, 
however, moved vigorously forward, and captured Breda after 
a four months’ siege, Oct. 7, 1637, at which the French 
ambassador, Charnace, was killed. In this year the sturdy 
Dutchmen showed that they could be carried away by an 
absurd speculative fever. The rage for tulips, or Tulipo¬ 
mania,” as it was afterward called, reached such a height in 
Holland that fortunes were spent on rare varieties of the 
garish flower. At last the precious bulbs were dealt in like 
stocks, people selling what they neither owned nor could get, 
and being obliged to pay the difference between the market 
prices on different days. To put a stop to the serious disputes 
which arose, the government was obliged to interfere in the 
traffic, and tulips thus lost their artificial value, though they 
have ever since been largely cultivated, especially in the 
gardens about Haarlem. 


57 ^ History'of the Netherlands. 

The year 1638 was signalized by the failure of a Dutch 
expedition against Antwerp, and it was found that some 
Amsterdam merchants had supplied the threatened city with 
arms and ammunition. One of them, a man named Bey- 
land, when put on trial, defended this vaunted republican 
right of freedom of commerce by saying, If I could gain 
anything by trading with hell, I would risk burning my 
sails.” Frederick Henry was particularly desirous to possess 
Antwerp as a counterpoise to arrogant Amsterdam; and he 
was enraged when the magistrates acquitted Beyland, on 
the ground that he had only done his duty as a commissioner 
of the Belgian capital. 

Frederick Henry’s authority was strengthened by the com¬ 
position of the states-general, which instead of being called 
together as formerly by the Council of State had for about 
fifty years been a permanent assembly, the states of the sep¬ 
arate provinces seldom changing their deputies, who thus 
became influenced by the official patronage of the stadt- 
holders. Complaints of the inefficiency of the states-general 
and their encroachments on the rights of the Council of State 
were rife, but Holland was the only province that held out 
for the control of its deputies. Frederick Henry’s policy 
was ably seconded by the subtle diplomatist Sommelsdyk. 
The prince’s secretary was the poet Constantine Huygens, 
Lord of Zuylichem, one of the brightest ornaments of Dutch 
literature, who held the same office under the two succeed¬ 
ing stadtholders, and who enjoyed the friendship of Hoofd, 
Heinsius, Vossius, Descartes, Balzac, and Corneille. His son 
Cfliristian, who inherited his title, was the celebrated astron¬ 
omer and geometer, the correspondent of Newton and Leib¬ 
nitz, whose scientific inventions and discoveries have given 
him a world-wide reputation. 


CHAPTER XXXVIL 


DUTCH WAR WITH ENGLAND. 

While the Spaniards gained some successes by land, a 
serious reverse awaited them at sea. The Dutch admiral, 
Marten Harpertszoon Trom.p, called by English writers Van 
Tromp, then forty-two years of age, had seen considerable 
servdce, and it was on his ship that Piet Heyn was killed while 
boldly attacking two pirate vessels. He now gained a great 
victory over Admiral Oquendo in the straits of Dover, Sept. 
18, 1639, from which the naval power of Spain never recov¬ 
ered. In their pride of triumph the states-general, eager to 
eclipse the stadtholder’s title of Highness, styled themselves 
High Mightinesses and High and Mighty Lords. 

Tromp’s victory, which is known as the battle of the Downs, 
excited great irritation at the English court, the king having 
favored the Spanish shipment of soldiers from Dunkirk to 
Flanders. To smooth over matters and also to secure the 
hand of the Princess Mary of England for the young Prince 
William, the stadtholder’s son, the veteran diplomatist Aers- 
sens. Lord of Sommelsdyk, the old opponent of Bameveld, 
was sent at the head of a Dutch embassy. This marriage 
project had been devised by the exiled widow of Henry IV. 
of France, to secure the influence of England and the republic 
with Richelieu in her favor. Commercial jealousies, disputes 
about their Indian possessions and the fishery on the English 
coast, had excited ill will between the two nations. In agree¬ 
ing to the marriage. King Charles, whose Scotch rebels had 

37 



5/8 History of the Netherlands. 

been secretly aided by the Dutch, wrote to Frederick Henry 
that he wished him in return to restrain them. 

But this royal alliance displeased the anti-stadtholder party 
in the republic, as well as Richelieu, whose troops bore the 
brunt of the war. Spain, however, was weakening on all 
sides, the revolt of Portugal depriving her of valuable posses¬ 
sions in Europe, Asia, and Africa, and the Dutch capturing 
important places in South America. On the 9th of Novem¬ 
ber, 1641, the Prince Cardinal Ferdinand died. The new 
captain-general of the Spanish Netherlands, Don Francisco 
de Melo, after gaining a few victories was overwhelmed by 
the young Duke of Enghien, afterward so famous as the great 
Cond^, in the battle of Rocroi on the 19th of May, 1643, 
which the renowned infantry of Spain were routed by the 
French soldiers. Meanwhile Richelieu had died, Dec. 4, 
1642, and Louis XIII., May 14, 1643 i t)ut the Regent Anne 
of Austria, whose policy was guided by Mazarin, renewed the 
alliance of France with the republic. 

The opposition of the Dutch people to the cause of the 
English king was .increased by the intrigues of Queen Henri¬ 
etta Maria, who brought over the Princess Mary to the prov¬ 
inces. She raised money on the crown jewels to furnish 
arms and ammunition against the parliament party, and 
paraded her Catholic belief. Frederick Henry, who had tried, 
through the Lord of Heenvliet, his agent in London, to recon¬ 
cile the hostile English parties, yielded to the queen’s urgent 
entreaties for aid; but the states of Holland checked the ship¬ 
ment of warlike supplies. Charles I., however, could not 
induce the chief of the house of Orange to sustain the royal 
cause by another matrimonial alliance. 

Fears of the growing power of France and the Spanish 
intrigues of Cardinal Mazarin led the United Provinces to 
favor peace with enfeebled Spain, though the Orange party 
had opposed it from dread of the strong Arminian and pro- 



TROMP AND DE WITT PLANNING THE BATTLE OF 
THE DOWNS. 


579 










































































































































1648. Trminphaiit Peace with Spain, 581 

vincial policy of Holland. Early in 1646 peace was favored 
in an unexpected quarter. Amalia van Solms, wife of Fred¬ 
erick Henry, influenced by Spanish promises and her hus¬ 
band’s declining health, was eager to end the war. She 
wanted the old warrior at home, where she could take care 
of him. He had grown enormously stout, for he could not 
restrain his appetite, and his mass of flesh had begun to affect 
his mental as well as bodily activity. While the negotiations 
were going on, the infirm stadtholder, who had lately failed 
in, effecting his own and his wife’s darling project, the capture 
of Antwerp, died, March 14, 1647, at the age of sixty-three. 
Though lacking the genius of his illustrious father and of his 
brilliant brother, his military and administrative talents were 
of great benefit to the republic. While able to conquer peace 
by his sword, he ensured it by his wise moderation, and aside 
from his ambitious English intrigues, there is little to blame 
in his political career. Frederick Henry naturally identified 
the interests of the nation with the fortunes of his house, and 
sought to increase his influence as stadtholder as a check to 
the encroachments of the burgher aristocracy who ruled the 
states of Holland. Yet he never secured the stadtholdership 
of all the provinces. Friesland elected Count William Fred¬ 
erick of Nassau, whose loss of Groningen excited his ill-will 
toward the Orange branch of the house. 

As the young Prince of Orange favored the French alliance ' 
and the continuance of the war, Holland and Zealand delayed 
appointing him stadtholder till peace was ensured. The 
states-general, however, conferred upon him the offices of 
captain and admiral-general of the union. By the memorable 
treaty signed at Munster on the 30th of January, 1648, Spain 
renounced all claim to the United Provinces and acknowl¬ 
edged their, sovereignty. They retained all their conquests, 
the coveted India trade, and the right to close the Scheldt, 
by which Antwerp was held in thrall by Amsterdam. 



582 History of the Netherlands. 

Thus the long war of sixty-eight years was ended by the 
complete triumph of the seven rebellious provinces and the 
humiliation of their oppressor. The republic was aided by 
its geographical position; its command of the sea and its 
network of rivers and canals favored its defence. The 
triumph was that of the people; and it was a noble remark 
of a patriotic Catholic, when rebuked for his devotion to the 
cause of the heretics, My heart is for Rome, my arm for 
liberty.” Philip’s shifting policy aided the Dutch struggle 
for independence. Reconciliation became impossible after 
Alva’s rule of blood and fire. A permanent union of all the 
Netherlands was defeated, not only by religious fanaticism, 
but by the wide difference in the character of the Northern 
and Southern populations. 

The Dutch drifted into a republic from inability to obtain 
a foreign sovereign to aid them against Philip II.; hence the 
defects in their national constitution produced serious internal 
dissensions. Naval and commercial success enriched them ; 
the founding of the Bank of Amsterdam in 1609, the same 
year in which Henry Hudson, an Englishman in the service 
of the Dutch East India Company, discovered the river which 
bears his name; the establishment of the colonial empire 
at Batavia in 1619; the settlement of thirty families from 
Holland on Manhattan Island, where the city of New York 
now stands, in 1623, and the growth of New Netherlands, 
— were fruits of maritime enterprise and prosperity. 

Art was illustrated by the genius of Rembrandt, Paul Potter, 
Cuyp, Ruysdael, Gerard Dow, Van de Velde, Ostade, Wou- 
vermaiis, and other painters who have invested the national 
landscape, life, and character with a poetic charm. The 
greatest names in Dutch literature belong to this period : 
Grotius, the renowned jurist; the philosopher Spinoza; 
Vondel, the illustrious dramatic poet; the historians, Bor, 
Hoofd, and Van Meteren; Jacob Cats, the simple, homely 
bard of the common people. 



DE WITT AND DE RUYTER CONSULTING THE MAP OF ENGLAND, 


















1650. Death of William II. 585 

The execution of Charles I. of England, against’ which 
Pauw and Joachimi, the special Dutch envoys, had protested, 
turned the popular feeling in favor of the Stuarts. Great 
sympathy was felt for his two exiled young sons, who were in 
the provinces. In the excitement among the royalist refugees, 
Doreslaar, the ambassador from the parliament to the states, 
was assassinated. He had acted as one of the king’s prose¬ 
cutors. The states of Holland, which still held out for the 
parliamentary cause against the states-general, offered a reward 
for the discovery of the murderers. The effort of the young 
Prince William to overawe his opponents in the towns, and 
his violent measures against Amsterdam in July, 1650, in 
which he was aided by the ambitious Count William Freder¬ 
ick, foreshadowed even more desperate designs. Holland 
had previously secured the release of Vice-Admiral Cor¬ 
nelius de With, whom the prince had arrested for returning 
without orders from Brazil. This officer has been con¬ 
founded by several English and French writers with Cor¬ 
nelius de Witt, brother of the celebrated statesman. 

A change now came over the relations of the United Prov¬ 
inces with France. They began to fear her increasing power 
as more dangerous than enfeebled Spain. Peace with their 
old enemy had been favored except by the house of Orange ; 
and its stanch supporters Zealand and Friesland, who saw in 
this policy the triumph of Holland’s revived Arminian and 
state-sovereignty policy. Distrust of France by the states was 
increased by Cardinal Mazarin’s intrigues. He had planned 
to make peace with Spain and to marry the young king 
Louis XIV. to the Infanta, whose dowry was to be the Span¬ 
ish Netherlands. There were fears in the United Provinces 
that the claim to their sovereignty would also be transferred, 
thus involving them in a war with France. 

A startling blow to the Orange party was the death of 
the gallant but misguided William IL, Nov. 6, 1650, at the 


586 History of the Netherlands, 

age of twenty-four. As he had intrigued to overthrow the 
treaty of Munster, involve France in war with Spain, and 
restore the Stuarts to the English throne, the republic was a 
gainer, though at the cost of a radical change in the govern¬ 
ment. Holland, by wholesale bribery in the Great Assembly, 
prevented the election of a captain-general of the union, and 
of stadtholder in most of the provinces. Her object was to 
prevent the baby prince from being used by his relatives 
to advance their interests, and to free the separate provinces 
from the military control of the states-general. Opposition 
to the house of Orange was at its height. 

Troubles now loomed up with England. Her ambassadors 
were insulted by the populace at the Hague, and, although 
well treated by the Holland party, they returned without 
effecting the desired coalition between the two republics. As 
the Dutch had made a restrictive treaty with Denmark, the 
English retaliated by the famous Navigation Act, which dealt 
a blow at their carrying trade by prohibiting foreign vessels 
from importing into England the products of any country but 
their own. This • measure being followed by the seizure of 
Dutch ships, war became imminent. In May, 1652, the two 
admirals Blake and Tromp came into collision over the vexed 
question of saluting the English flag; a five hours’ battle 
followed, night parting the combatants. In their alarm the 
states-general, who had neglected to give Tromp definite 
instructions about lowering his flag in presence of a British 
fleet in the Channel, sent Adrian Pauw, Grand Pensionary 
of Holland and the most influential man in the country, to 
smooth over matters with the parliament. The two regular 
Dutch ambassadors had been ridiculed from their names, — 
Cats and Schaep, — as a cat and a sheep. When Pauw 
arrived, whose name meant a peacock, the rude jokers de¬ 
clared that instead of ambassadors the states had sent them a 


menagerie. 



1652. 


Rise of yohn De Witt. 


587 


The ruling Holland party in the provinces avoided war, 
and in sending Tromp to sea again, ordered him to act on 
the defensive and to strike the flag when meeting a British 
fleet. But the Orange party hoped for hostilities, expecting 
that the young prince would thus be declared captain-general 
and the Stuart cause be supported. But they were doomed 
to disappointment. A stern opponent of this policy was now 
coming into prominence. This was John de Witt, whose 
father was one of the Amsterdam magistrates imprisoned by 
William II. in the castle of Louvestein, and who had early 
imbibed Holland’s ideas of provincial sovereignty. After 
studying at the University of Leyden, and taking the degree 
of Doctor of Laws at a French university, he began legal 
practice. He had become pensionary of his native city of 
Dort in 1650, and took part as member of the states of Hol¬ 
land in the Great Assembly. He was now, in the absence of 
Adrian Pauw in London, performing his duties as Grand Pen¬ 
sionary of Holland, the chief executive officer of the stadt- 
holderless republic. Yet he was only twenty-five years of age. 

The English demands for satisfaction becoming unbearable, 
Tromp was ordered to attack their fleet; but while in search 
of Blake, who had destroyed the Dutch fishing-vessels, a 
tempest forced him to return disabled. Popular fury being 
excited against him by the Orange party, he was superseded 
by Michael Adrianszoon De Ruyter, who vanquished an Eng¬ 
lish fleet under Sir George Ayscue off Plymouth, in August, 
1652, and rode in triumph through the Channel. Early in 
September the Dutch admiral Van Galen defeated the Eng¬ 
lish captain Bodley near the island of Elba. Cornelius Tromp, 
the promising son of the great admiral, led the van, and 
captured the man-of-war Phoenix, which two months after¬ 
ward was surprised and recaptured. Young Tromp distin¬ 
guished himself in another victory in January, over Sir Henry 
Appleton, near Leghorn, in which Van Galen was killed. 


588 


History of the Netherlands. 


Meanwhile De Witt had been working against Orange 
intrigues in Zealand to appoint the young prince captain and 
admiral-general of the union, with Count William Frederick, 
the Friesland stadtholder, as lieutenant during his minority. 

Tromp was restored to favor after the defeat by Blake of 
his successor De With, who was deserted by some of the 
Orange-loving Zealand commanders in the battle off the 
Flemish coast, Oct. 8, 1652. The old sea-king with a hundred 
and six ships completely defeated Blake’s inferior force, off 
Dover, December 10, the English fleet retreating under cover 
of night. Tromp fastened a broom at his mast-head as a 
sign that he had. swept the enemy from the seas. Dutch 
privateers now preyed freely on English commerce, but the 
carrying trade of the republic suffered so much from the war 
that Holland secretly negotiated for peace. De Witt had 
become temporary Grand Pensionary by the death of Adrian 
Pauw, Feb. 21, 1653, and five months afterward was elected 
for the full term of five years. 

A three days’ battle between Tromp, aided by De Ruyter, 
Evertsen, and Florisson, against Blake, Dean, and Monk, off 
Portland, a week later, resulted in the defeat of the Dutch, 
whose rulers had neglected their supply of ammunition. 
Tromp’s valor gained him high praise, and Blake was lamed 
for life by a musket-ball. Another battle on the 12th of June, 
which lasted two days, ended by Blake and Monk’s victory 
over Tromp, who had warned his government of the inferiority 
of his ships and guns. His powder again fell short. The 
English admiral Dean was killed in this action, which was 
followed by the refusal of Tromp, De With, and De Ruyter 
to remain in the service unless the fleet were strengthened. 
The victors displayed a broom at their mast-heads. 

There was now great distress in Amsterdam from the 
stoppage of commerce ; families deserted the great city, and 
many workmen were reduced to beggary and starvation. 



TROMP’S VICTORY OVER BLAKE. 



















Death of Tromp. 


591 


1653- 

Orange riots broke out in the towns of Holland, and Zealand 
and Overyssel were wild for the young prince. The govern¬ 
ment was charged with betraying the country. On the loth 
of August, 1653, the public despair was increased by the 
death of Tromp, in a battle with Monk, off Scheveningen, in 
which the English were victorious. It is all over with me,” 
said the dyitig hero to the captains who crowded about him 
as he fell pierced by a musket-ball; “but you must take 
courage.” The chief consolation for the Dutch was that the 
battle broke up the English blockade. In this gigantic naval 
war between the two great maritime . powers, England had 
been favored by having larger ships and heavier guns, and 
by the inefficiency of the states-general of the stadtholderless 
republic. Though ruling the seas at the close of the contest 
with Spain, the dependence of the United Provinces upon 
the carrying trade, and their political difficulties at home, 
made the English conflict extremely dangerous. The sources 
of Dutch wealth being on the ocean, it was at the mercy of 
. a naval power with comparatively little commerce. “ Eng¬ 
land,” said one of the states’ ambassadors for peace in 1652, 
“ is moving against a gold mountain, and we are proceeding 
against an iron one.” 


CHAPTER XXXVIIL 


MASSACRE OF THE DE WITTS. 

Peace was now obtained with Cromwell, but on severe 
terms. Besides consenting to a defensive alliance, the 
United Provinces were obliged to agree to strike their flag, 
to settle the claims of the English on the Dutch East India 
Company, including the restoration of the island of Poleroon, 
damages for the antiquated Amboyna outrages and for vessels 
seized in the Danish Sound. These claims were settled for 
about half a million dollars. But the most serious demand 
was the perpetual exclusion of the house of Orange from 
power. De Witt concealed the fact that the demand for- 
exclusion came from Cromwell, and caused the states of 
Holland to pass the act secretly; and it was delivered to 
Cromwell without the states-general knowing that it formed 
part of the treaty. It bound Holland to prevent the Prince 
of Orange or any member of his family from becoming stadt- 
holder of that province, and to resist their election to the 
captain-generalship of the union. De Witt carried the meas¬ 
ure by unscrupulous deception and intrigue. May 4, 1654. 
He afterward defended Holland from the charge of ingrati¬ 
tude to the house of Orange ; but while depriving that house 
of power during the next eighteen years by his skilful strategy, 
he was unconsciously preparing a terrible popular reaction 
in its favor. 

A naval victory by Obdam, an ex-cavalry officer who suc¬ 
ceeded Tromp in command of the fleet, forced the Swedish 


i66o. 


Dutch War with England. 


593 


admiral Wrangel to abandon the blockade of the Sound, 
which imperilled the interests of the Dutch as well as of 
their old ally Denmark. In this battle, which took place 
Nov. 8, 1658, the impetuous admiral De With was killed. 
Being unable to stand from the gout, Obdam gave his orders 
from a chair at the mainmast. De Ruyter, who succeeded 
the infirm commander, soon compelled the Swedes to a peace 
favorable to Dutch commerce in the Baltic. 

The accession of Charles II. to the throne in May, 1660, 
involved the Dutch in a new war. The king had been 
warmly welcomed in Holland on his way home, and the states 
had repealed the act of exclusion which affected his nephew, 
the young Prince of Orange, declaring that it had been passed 
at the command of Cromwell. But Charles still cherished 
resentment against the republic, and his brother, the Duke of 
York, was ambitious of warlike distinction. The quarrels of 
traders on the African coast furnished an excuse for hostilities. 
An attack was therefore made on the Dutch settlements there 
and also in America, New Netherlands being reduced in 
the autumn of 1664 and named New York. 

To strengthen his cause, De Witt had made an alliance 
with Louis XIV. of France on the 27th of September, 1662, 
though he suspected the king’s ambitious designs on the 
Spanish Netherlands. After trying to avert war with England, 
which was declared March 4, 1665, he despatched Obdam to 
the English coast, where his fleet encountered that of the 
Duke of York, who was aided by the Earl of Sandwich 
and Prince Rupert, off Lowestoft, June 31. In this battle 
Obdam’s ship was blown up and the Dutch were left with¬ 
out a head; but the neglect of the English enabled them 
to escape. 

De Witt was now charged with continuing the war for self¬ 
ish purposes. The sailors in the fleet, resenting the prefer¬ 
ment of De Ruyter over Cornelius Tromp, a zealous Orange 

38 



594 History of the Netherlands. 

partisan, mutinied in behalf of the young prince. It was 
urged that he should be placed in his father’s offices, to 
allay the hostility of England. But the Grand Pensionary 
was equal to the emergency. He took command of the fleet, 
suppressed the mutiny, and astonished the pilots by taking 
the vessels through a supposed impassable channel. This 
has ever since been called “ De Witt’s Deep.” In his ab¬ 
sence, however, serious intrigues were formed against him. 
Louis XIV. whose offers of mediation had been rejected 
by the English king, now aided the United Provinces in 
order to prevent their falling into his hands. Charles’s ally, 
Van Galen, Bishop of Munster, who had invaded Friesland, 
was repelled by aid of the French troops. 

By a skilful stroke of policy, De Witt allayed the hostility 
of the Orange party. He took charge of the education of the 
young prince in order to fit him for the public service. On 
the I St of June, 1666, De Ruyter with eighty-five men-of-war 
and sixteen fire-ships met Monk’s fleet of sixty large vessels 
off the North Foreland, and would have destroyed it had not 
Prince Rupert come up with twenty-five more. Three times 
the great Dutch admiral forced his way through the English 
lines. Tromp fought like a tiger. As one vessel after another 
bearing his flag crashed into the enemy, Monk asked in won¬ 
der whether there were half a dozen Tromps on the Dutch 
fleet. The battle lasted for four days, and on the last De 
Ruyter dispersed his. opponents, who escaped under cover of 
a thick fog. “ It is God,” exclaimed the devout admiral, 
who delivers them ; he wills but to chastise their presump¬ 
tion, not to destroy them utterly.” This great battle, the 
longest and most hotly contested that ever occurred in Eng¬ 
lish seas, was announced in England as a victory for Monk. 
In fact, Charles H. ordered a public thanksgiving, which,” 
said honest Bishop Burnet, “ was a horrid mocking of God 
and a lying to the world.” The genial Evelyn describes in 



DE RUYTER ON THE MEDWAY. 

































































































1666 . De Riiyter invades England. 597 

his diary a visit to the remains of the English fleet, which he 
says was “ miserably shattered, hardly a vessel entire, but 
appearing rather so many wrecks and hulls, so cruelly had 
the Dutch mangled us.” A good deal of this mangling was 
due to the terrible effect of chain-shot, — an invention attrib¬ 
uted to De Witt, which was first used in the four days’ battle. 

Another contest on the 25th of July between De Ruyter 
and Tromp with eighty-eight ships and Prince Rupert and 
Monk with about the same number, resulted in a victory for 
the English. The great Dutch admiral, whose ship, the 
“ Seven Provinces,” was a mark for the enemy’s fire, was so 
disheartened by the terrific cannonade that he exclaimed, 
“ O God, why am 1 so wretched ? Is there not, among so 
many thousand balls, one that will bring me death?” Soon 
rallying, however, he fought the enemy bravely till they 
withdrew from the pursuit. Tromp’s recklessness in this 
battle weakened the fleet and caused his dismissal from office. 
His quarrel with De Ruyter and his known Orange leanings 
led De Witt to favor this policy. 

After suppressing an Orange plot in which his own secre¬ 
tary and two Rotterdam magistrates were engaged, the prin¬ 
cipal offender being executed, De Witt made a bold attempt 
to hasten the negotiations for peace. A fleet of seventy 
vessels under De Ruyter advanced up the Thames in June, 
1666, forced the boom at the Medway, destroyed the men- 
of-war that guarded it, and moved on in triumph to Chatham. 
Such was the weakness to which the king’s corrupt extrava¬ 
gance had reduced the country. The roar of the Dutch guns 
was heard in London and spread terror along the coast. 
Thus De Witt compelled the peace of Breda on the 31st of 
July, by which the English renounced the claims which had 
been the pretext for the war, and agreed to a defensive alliance 
with the haughty republic. 

Louis XIV. now invaded Flanders, which he claimed for 


598 History .€f the Netherlands. 

his wife’s unpaid dowry. Her father, Philip IV. of Spain, 
had died in the previous year, leaving his kingdom powerless, 
the population shrunk to six millions from twenty under 
Philip II., the soldiers no longer invincible to foreign in¬ 
vaders, and unable to protect their own homes. Beardless 
boys and decrepit old men had taken the place of the stalwart 
veterans of Parma. The country was exhausted, and unhap¬ 
pily the Belgian provinces had caught the infection of its mis- 
government. National energy and public spirit languished, 
the nobles were lackeys of their foreign rulers, and local 
privileges were all that was left of popular liberty. 

Early in the year 1668, England, the United Provinces, 
and Sweden signed the famous Triple Alliance in order to 
compel Louis XIV. to peace. The efforts of Sir William 
Temple, the accomplished English negotiator, had been un¬ 
willingly seconded by De Witt, who feared Charles’s instability 
would expose the republic to the vengeance of France. 
Temple’s urgency led De Witt to hasten the conclusion of 
the treaty. He induced the states-general to sign it, without 
consulting the states of the separate provinces. By this act 
the national constitution was violated by the very party that 
had denounced the house of Orange for similar misdeeds. 
This was another proof that the slow-going methods of 
the union were unequal to great public emergencies. But 
De Witt’s forebodings were destined to have a sad fulfilment 
for himself and his country. Charles H. sold himself to 
Louis XIV.; by the secret treaty of Dover in May, 1670, he 
agreed to aid in an attack on the republic: Sweden also 
withdrew from the triple league.^ 


1 The glowing praise of historians like Macaulay and Green of the ill-starred 
Triple Alliance is not justified by the facts. Hallam is more guarded, “ Con¬ 
stitutional History of England,” vol. ii. p. 374, Boston, 1854; and Lingard holds 
that it accomplished nothing more than the French king himself was anxious to 
effect. “ History of England,” vol. xii. p. 190, notes, London, 1829. 



1672. 


The French Invasion. 


599 


Though the Dutch repelled the English attack on their 
Smyrna fleet, they were in no condition to resist a French 
invasion. Failing to bribe De Witt, Louis resolved to crush 
the proud traders who had foiled his plans. The states had 
neglected their army from fear of Orange influence, and 
Holland only consented to the young prince’s appointment 
as captain-general on condition that he should never become 
stadtholder. 

With his splendid army of one hundred thousand men 
commanded by Cond6 and Turenne, the French king 
crossed the Rhine, subdued Gelderland, Utrecht, and Over- 
yssel, and advanced within nine miles of Amsterdam. De 
Ruyter’s encounter with the combined fleet of the Duke of 
York and the French Count d’Estr^es, in Solebay, May 28, 
1672, upheld Dutch prowess on the sea. The states-general, 
by the advice of John de Witt and against the appeals of 
Amsterdam, which had set a noble example of resistance to 
the enemy, and the three subdued provinces, offered humble 
terms of submission to Louis. In his pride of conquest he 
rejected them; but his demands and those of England roused 
universal opposition. 

Popular feeling was now excited against John, de Witt and 
his brother Cornelius, the able deputy of the states-general. 
The Orange party charged them with selling the country to 
France ; and the Calvinist ministers preached against the gov¬ 
ernment, and demanded the restoration of his family dignities 
to the prince. An attempt was made to assassinate the two 
brothers; and the states of Holland and Zealand, yielding to 
the popular clamor, repealed the Perpetual Edict, and elected 
the youthful William stadtholder and captain-general. 

Renewed assaults were made on the character of the De 
Witts. A furious mob threatened the house of De Ruyter, 
because the old hero defended the honor of Cornelius. The 
latter was soon tried and convicted, on complaint of a wretch 


6 oo History of the Netherla 7 ids. 

named Tichelaar, of attempting the life of the Prince of Or- 
ange. As even torture did not extort the desired confession, 
the judges would not condemn him to death, but, fearing to 
excite the popular fury by an acquittal, they sentenced him 
to perpetual banishment. 

Meanwhile John de Witt had resigned his post as Grand 
Pensionary. By an artful plot he was induced to visit the 
jail, against the appeals of his friends, in the belief that his 
brother had been acquitted and desired to see him. The 
populace who thronged the prison doors were enraged by 
seeing a carriage waiting as if to take away the prisoner. 
Tichelaar now incited a report that he had evaded pun¬ 
ishment for his assassination scheme and was about to escape, 
and called for vengeance upon the two brothers. To arms, 
to arms ! Treason, treason ! ” was the cry of the infuriated 
populace as they surged about the prison doors. 

On hearing of the tumult the states of Holland sent a body 
of cavalry and ordered out burgher guards to' protect the 
prison, but the latter were in full sympathy with the mob. 
One company in particular, distinguished by a blue flag, were 
furious against ther prisoners, being •incited by their leader 
Verhoef, and stimulated by drink, which had been purposely 
provided for them. Being held in check by the cavalry 
under Count Tilly, a plot was formed to withdraw them. 
The council of state were prevailed upon to send the troopers 
to guard the approaches to the city against the reported 
approach of a band of peasants and sailors. The count, 
who had spurned a verbal summons to quit his post, said 
sadly, on receiving a written one, ‘‘ I shall obey this order, 
but it is the death-warrant of the brothers.” 

His departure was the signal for an attack on the prison 
door with axes and sledge-hammers. The murderous threats 
of the rioters obliged the keeper to open it. Verhoef and 
Van Bankhem, a sheriff of the Hague, led on the populace. 


0 


















J 

i 


1672. Massacre of the De Witts, 603 

They forced the two prisoners to descend the stairs; they 
were then dragged into the street and torn in pieces by the 
populace. “ There goes the Perpetual Edict,” said one of 
the mob, as the late powerful ruler fell under the furious 
blows. This frightful tragedy was enacted at the Hague on 
the 20th of August, 1672.1 

The massacre of the De Witts, which has left a bloody 
stain on the history of the republic, was the blind vengeance 
of the people upon the representatives of a hated political 
system. John de Witt had shown great ability as a ruler, 
and had raised his country to the height of its influence in 
Europe. But that influence was secured by the repression 
of the all-popular house of Orange, which represented national 
unity and progress, in favor of an arrogant burgher oligarchy 
whose administrative incapacity, while it hampered De Witt, 
enraged the long-suffering people. The Grand- Pensionary 
became the victim of the narrow provincialism which had 
raised him to power. Though a greater man than Barneveld, 
he had the same weakness for providing his relatives with 
offices. Yet, while corrupting others, the chief of the republic 
was himself incorruptible, and his simple, frugal ways deeply 
impressed the courtly English ambassador. Sir William Tem¬ 
ple. His sacrifice was cruel and lamentable ; but it was the 
natural result of his efforts to intensify the defects of the Dutch 
constitution, to keep the people in bondage to the ambitious 
families who enriched themselves by controlling the municipal 
corporations that ruled the states-general. John de Witt, 

1 Verhoef opened the bodies of the brothers and tore out their hearts, which 
he preserved for a long time and exhibited for money to gratify a barbarous 
curiosity. Another miscreant cut out a piece of flesh, which he declared he 
should roast and eat with his friend Tichelaar. Basnage, “ Annales des Pro- 
vinces-Unies,” tom. ii. p. 649, folio. La Haye, t7?6. 

2 This view of De Witt’s position has been ignored by Mignet and other of 
his eulogists ; but it is maintained, not merely by zealous Orange partisans like 
Groen van Prinsterer, but by his latest and most competent biographer. While 


6 o4 History of the Netherlands. 

though an able and high-minded statesman, strengthened the 
bonds which shackled the progress of his country, and thus 
deprived himself of a place among its permanent benefactors. 
His undoubted patriotism only deepens the regret that his 
talents did not have a higher field of usefulness. 


justifying De Witt’s policy in excluding the house of Orange from power on 
account of the misdeeds of its later members, he admits the essential falsity of 
his political system. “ Each town a sovereign; — that seems about the mad¬ 
dest and saddest of political ideals, and every Dutchman ought to feel satisfied 
that De Witt’s work failed. What possible result could issue from it in the 
long run, but weakness and strife eternally, and final disintegration and decom¬ 
position ? The house of Orange represented unity and growth; De Witt repre¬ 
sented a republic whose constant and increasing tendency was to resolve itself 
into a series of unconnected municipal atoms.” Geddes, ‘‘ History of the Admin¬ 
istration of John de Witt,”vol. i. p. 456. London, 1879. Compare Wagenaar, 
“ Vaderlandsche Historie,” decl xiv. bock liv. Amsterdam, 1756. 


CHAPTER XXXIX. 


DECLINE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC. 

The neglect of William III. to punish the murderers of the 
De Witts has sullied his fame. Fear of exciting the ill will 
of their powerful opponents overpowered his sense of justice. 
But the wretches lived-to expiate in poverty and shame the 
deed which the people themselves regretted when the fury 
of passion had calmed. 

With the death of the two brothers their party fell to 
pieces. After changing the refractory town governments by 
advice of the states of Holland, whose support was secured 
for him by Caspar Fagel,’the new Grand Pensionary, the 
prince roused the people to resist the invaders. The heroic 
spirit which animated William the Silent in a similar crisis 
now nerved his great-grandson at the age of twenty-two. 
He declared that he would die in the last ditch, rather than 
behold the ruin of his country. He urged the states-general 
to engulf Holland in the ocean from which it sprang, and 
embark all its inhabitants for India, there to found a new 
commonwealth, sooner than accept the degrading conditions 
of their enemies. Inspired by this resolve, the people threw 
back defiance to the allies. They opened the dykes and 
flooded the country, while the prince continued that stub¬ 
born warfare with Louis XIV. in which, though often de¬ 
feated, he was to toiumph at last. 

On the sea the Dutch held at bay the superior forces of 
the allies. In the summer of 1673 De Ruyter and Tromp, 


6o6 History of the Netherlands. 

whom the stadtholder had reconciled, fought three battles 
against the combined English and French fleets under Prince. 
Rupert and Count d’Estrees, and protected the coast of Zea¬ 
land from invasion. In the last of these contests, which took 
place at the mouth of the Texel, Aug. 21, 1673, De Ruyter 
closed the long naval warfare between the two great maritime 
powers by breasting with only seventy-five vessels, twice the 
number of the enemy. Tromp in his ship the “Golden 
Lion” of eighty-two guns fiercely engaged the “Royal 
Prince ” of one hundred, commanded by Admiral Sprague ; 
both ships became disabled, and in attempting to change his 
vessel Sprague was drowned, his boat having been sunk by a 
cannon-ball. The French admiral who had been prevented 
by secret orders from his government from aiding Prince 
Rupert wrote to Colbert, minister of finance : “I would 
have sacrificed my life for the glory that De Ruyter has 
gained.” 

The jealousy of the allies and the unpopularity of the war 
with the English sailors were advantages for the Dutch. 
While losing some of their East and West India possessions 
they regained New Amsterdam, which had been taken by 
the English in 1664 and named New York in honor of the 
Duke of York, brother of Charles II. Admiral Cornelius 
Evertsen, after capt ring a number of Virginia tobacco ships 
in Chesapeake Bay, appeared off New York with his squadron, 
Aug. 9, 1673, and on the surrender of the city its name was 
changed to New Orange, in honor of William III. The cry 
of “ Oranje boven ! ” (Up with Orange !) stirred the Dutch 
residents of Manhattan as it had the people of the Father- 
land. When the states-general secured the desired treaty of 
peace with England in February, 1674, by which both parties 
restored their conquests, they relinquished New Netherlands, 
besides yielding the honor of the flag and paying a large 
indemnity. Charles II. had been forced to this peace by the 


1675- Death of De Ruyter. 607 

refusal of his parliament to furnish further supplies for the 
war. In their joy at this settlement the states of Holland 
and Zealand made the offices of stadtholder and captain- 
general hereditary in the family of WiUiam III., while the 
states-general did the same with the stadtholderate and cap¬ 
tain-generalship of the union. The prince’s power was also 
increased by the restoration of the three conquered prov¬ 
inces, Gelderland, Overyssel, and Utrecht, under circum¬ 
stances which gave him almost absolute control of their 
government. 

Despite William’s popularity in the provinces, they were 
so fearful lest he should grasp supreme authority that he 
declined the offer of a sovereign dukedom from the states 
of Gelderland. This had excited great opposition from the 
states of Zealand, and produced a financial panic in Amster¬ 
dam. The sense of dependence on his life deepened popular 
anxiety during his sickness at the Hague, where he was care¬ 
fully tended by Bentinck, his faithful chamberlain, whom he 
rewarded with the Earldom of Portland. Thus was founded 
one of the great aristocratic houses of England. 

The prince’s military necessities led him to neglect the 
Dutch navy, much to the regret of De Ruyter, who was 
obliged to attack the French fleet of Admiral Du Quesne 
with an inferior force, part being Spanish vessels. In a battle 
near Sicily, April 22, 1675, the old hero received his death- 
wound. He had risen from a cabin boy to the proud 
position, conceded to him by the English historian Hume, 
of the greatest naval commander of his age. His piety and 
patriotism endeared him to his countrymen, and his sailors 
loved him as a father. His modesty and simplicity were 
remarkable. The morning after the four days’ battle, which 
covered his name with glory, he was found sweeping his 
cabin and feeding his chickens, as if he had done nothing 
wonderful. Princes vied with each other in honoring him. 


6o8 


History of the Netherlands. 


but he refused all invitations to visit foreign courts. When 
he died the rugged captains of the fleet who had crowded 
into his cabin, wept like children. Thus passed away, amid 
the scenes of his renown, the greatest of the great Dutch 
admirals at the age of sixty-six. 

William, like De Witt, was troubled by disputes between the 
Voetians and Cocceians, disciples of two rival theologians. 
As they took sides in politics he favored the party of Voetius, 
which had opposed the Grand Pensionary, and made magis¬ 
trates and ministers feel his power. The influence of the 
authorities of Amsterdam checked these perilous controver¬ 
sies. The French philosopher Descartes, who resided in 
Holland for many years before his death in 1650, originated 
the doctrines adopted by the Cocceians. On his arrival in 
1617 he joined the troops of Maurice of Nassau, but during 
his subsequent residence in Amsterdam and other Dutch 
cities he was devoted to philosophical pursuits. The busy 
traders among whom the meditative student walked did not 
dream that his influence would outlast the republic. It was 
creditable to the country of Erasmus and Spinoza that it 
afforded a refuge to Descartes; and the fame of Frederick 
Henry is brightened by the protection which he gave to 
the philosopher when exposed to prosecution by the civil 
power. This had been instigated by Voetius, then theologi¬ 
cal professor at Utrecht, whose opponent, Cocceius, was ap¬ 
pointed professor of theology at Leyden the year Descartes 
died. 

By his marriage, Nov. 4, 1677, Princess Mary of 

England, daughter of the Duke of York, the -heir to the 
British throne, the prince prepared the way for his future 
triumphs against France. But the states-general had mean¬ 
while become so weary of the war that they accepted the 
tempting terms of peace offered by Louis XIV. The new 
King of Spain, Charles H., on freeing himself from the regency 






























i688. Williams Descent on England. 6ii 

of his mother, Anne of Austria, in November, 1675, relapsed 
under her control and that of her favorites. The great- 
grandson of Philip II., he was the last of the Spanish- 
Austrian line, and in him all its weaknesses were combined. 
Feeble in mind and body, he was grossly superstitious, and 
so ignorant that he did not know the names of some of his 
own towns and provinces. 

Forced to make peace at Nimeguen, in July, 1678, by the 
English king’s intrigues with France, which left the Spanish 
Netherlands at its mercy, William availed himself of the 
frightful excesses of Louis XIV. to form a new coalition 
against him. His efforts to aid the Belgian provinces against 
the French invasion in 1683 and 1684 had been balked by 
the opposition of the cities of Amsterdam and Middleburg 
and the provinces of Groningen and Overyssel. By the 
League of Augsburg, in 1686, he brought the German princes 
to his support against France. James IL of England still 
clung to Louis; and William, who had vainly tried to har¬ 
monize the king and his people, was at last forced to protect 
his wife’s rights. Dykvelt, his prudent counsellor, was sent 
to England to organize the popular opposition, and James’s 
infatuation and the birth of the Prince of Wales did the rest. 
The invitation of the nobles found William nearly ready for 
his great expedition. The consent of refractory Amsterdam 
had been gained by Dykvelt, and the states sustained the 
great cause with which the liberties of Europe were bound 
up. The security of the provinces being assured, the Prince 
of Orange, with his army of thirteen thousand men, embarked 
on the enterprise, which was crowned by William and Mary’s 
sovereignty of England, on the 13th of February, 1688. 

William III. was henceforth the representative of England 
in his Grand Alliances which humbled the pride of Louis XIV. 
In his native country, where his neglect of the national in¬ 
terests excited great irritation, he appeared only to rebuke 


6i2 History of the Netherlands. 

the pride of Amsterdam and to repress resistance to the rule 
of his party. The Spanish Netherlands became the battle¬ 
field of Europe; victims to the ambition of Louis XIV., 
their fortresses were captured, their capital bombarded, the 
country was devastated. Notwithstanding their reduced 
armaments the Dutch maintained their reputation for naval 
prowess. At the battle of Beachy Head, June 29, 1690, their 
fleet under Cornelius Evertsen breasted almost alone the 
destructive French attack, owing to the mean-spirited con¬ 
duct of the English admiral Torrington. Queen Mary sent a 
Privy-Councillor to the states-general to allay the indignation 
of the Dutch, whose gallantry overcame for a time the jeal¬ 
ousy of their allies. The ships of Holland and Zealand 
helped to turn the tide of victory against the French admiral 
Tourville at the battle of La Hogue, in May, 1692, when the 
English vindicated their old renown, and henceforth ruled the 
seas. William’s obstinacy and the exhaustion of France com¬ 
pelled Louis XIV. to the peace of Ryswick, in September, 
1697, and the recognition of the stubborn stadtholder as 
King of England. Spain now regained many places in the 
Netherlands, and the Dutch obtained the right to garrison 
the frontier towns as a protection against France. 

A sensation was excited in Holland in the year 1697, by 
the discovery that the Czar of Russia, Peter the Great, was 
working as a ship-carpenter in the little town of Zaandam. 
Being in need of a fleet he adopted this means of learning 
the art of ship-building. Under the name of Peter Michael- 
hoff he entered the employ of a certain Mynheer Calf, and 
was familiarly known to his brother workmen as Piet. Being 
greatly annoyed by the curiosity of visitors, he left after a 
week’s stay and pursued his labors as a shipwright within the 
walls of the dockyards of the East India Company at Amster¬ 
dam. In that great commercial capital, whose forests of 
masts were the wonder of foreigners, he varied his manual 



PKTER THE GREAT IN THE DUTCH SHIPYARD. 613 



























































J 


1700. The Spanish Succession. 615 

labors by a careful study of the arts and industries for which 
the Dutch were then famous, before passing on to England. 
The cabin in which Peter the Great lived at Zaandam is the 
principal curiosity in the town, which, in his honor, was at 
one time called Czardam, or Saardam. It is a common 
wooden hut enclosed in a stone structure, and contains vari¬ 
ous memorials of the great monarch and of the visits of his 
successors. 

The impending death of the Spanish king Charles II., and 
the fear that his vast dominions would fall to the dauphin, 
or the Emperor Leopold of Germany, who with the Electoral 
Prince of Bavaria were claimants of the succession, led Eng¬ 
land to join France and the United Provinces in a partition 
treaty, Oct. ii, 1698. This assigned Spain the Indies, and 
the Spanish Netherlands to the Electoral Prince of Bavaria; 
the Milanese to the Emperor’s son, the Archduke Charles of 
Austria; and the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily to the dau¬ 
phin. But Charles’s Castilian pride revolted against this dis¬ 
memberment of his monarchy, and he accordingly made a 
will in favor of the Electoral Prince of Bavaria. The sudden 
death of this prince, Feb. 6, 1699, forced William, whose 
warlike policy and grants of crown lands to his Dutch favor¬ 
ites had made him very unpopular in England, to agree to a 
second partition treaty, March 25, 1700, by which the three 
powers gave Spain the Indies, and the Spanish Netherlands 
to the Archduke Charles, and Naples, Sicily, and the duchy 
of Lorraine to the dauphin. 

But the treachery of Louis XIV. forced William to form 
a new Grand Alliance against him. He claimed the succes¬ 
sion to the Spanish crown for his grandson the Duke of 
Anjou under the will of Charles IL, who died Oct. 30, 1700. 
This act of Louis recalled his claim upon Flanders at the 
death of Philip IV., when despite his wife’s solemn renuncia¬ 
tion of her right of inheritance at her marriage he asserted it 


6i6 


History of the Netherlands. 


by force of arms on the pretext that her dowry had not been 
paid. As the ‘‘ Peace of the Pyrenees ” had emphasized this 
renunciation in 1659, it was ominous that the proud king 
should now declare, “ The Pyrenees have ceased to exist.” 
The Elector of Bavaria, who had been governor-general of 
the Spanish Netherlands since 1692, and had done much to 
repair the ravages of the war, now acknowledged the Duke of 
Anjou as Philip V. of Spain. He also furthered the designs 
of Louis XIV. by admitting troops into the provinces in 
February, 1701, thus obliging the Dutch garrisons to with¬ 
draw, to the sorrow of William who saw the barrier which he 
had so laboriously erected against France suddenly swept 
away. Though he was compelled by the English peace party 
to follow the example of the United Provinces in recognizing 
Philip V., the promise of Louis XIV. to the dying James 11 . 
to acknowledge his son as King of England, Scotland, and 
Ireland united the nation in support of a war policy. Death 
removed the indomitable Dutchman before he could again 
marshal his forces for the struggle. Thus passed away, on 
the 8th of March, 1702, the last of the great princes of 
Orange, the fourth* of the renowned stadtholders who had 
reflected glory alike on their family and their country, and 
who furnish the most remarkable example in history of he¬ 
reditary genius in statesmanship and war. The mission of 
William the Silent had its crowning triumph when his great- 
grandson, seated on the throne of Elizabeth, protected the 
imbecile great-grandson of Philip 11 . from the vengeance of 
his enemies. 

Though William III. lacked the military genius of Maurice 
and the attractive personal qualities of William the Silent and 
Frederick Henry, his commanding political ability and invin¬ 
cible firmness enabled him to protect the liberties of Europe 
and humble the power of Louis XIV. His indomitable 
persistency triumphed alike over his physical weakness and 



ENTRANCE OF WILLIAM III. INTO LONDON 





























1709. MarlboroitgJt s Campaigns. 619 

the strength of his embattled foesd He was fortunate in 
having such able counsellors among his countrymen as Fagel, 
Dykvelt, and Heinsius, fortunate also in the early political 
training which he received from John de Witt; but the 
indulgence which he showed to that statesman’s murderers, 
even more than the neglect to punish the author of the 
Massacre of Glencoe, has sullied his fame. 

Fortunately England had a great general to carry on the 
war. Queen Anne sent the Duke of Marlborough to the 
Netherlands, where he was ably supported by Prince Eugene 
of Savoy and the Grand Pensionary Heinsius, who, since the 
death of the childless William III., and disregarding his will 
in favor of the young Prince John William Friso, of Nassau- 
Dietz, carried on the Dutch government without a stadt- 
holder. Thus the states of Holland and Amsterdam were 
again triumphant. The states now appeared in a body in¬ 
stead of by deputies at the meetings of the states-general, 
and the power of the mercantile aristocracy whom they rep¬ 
resented was further increased by the resumption by munici¬ 
pal corporations of their self-electing privileges, though the 
Orange party in Utrecht, Gelderland, and Overyssel, where 
William HI. had secured almost supreme authority, struggled 
long and vigorously against the change. 

As the result of Marlborough’s campaigns, which drenched 
the Spanish Netherlands with blood and made the battle-fields 
of Blenheim, Ramillies, and Malplaquet forever memorable, 

^ The fact that William and his great antagonist Marshal Luxemburg, who 
defeated him at Steinkirk and Neerwinden, 1692-93, were of weak constitution, 
is mentioned by Macaulay as a striking illustration of the change which the 
progress of civilization has produced in the art of war. The vein of exaggera¬ 
tion in the picture gives it peculiar vividness. “ It is probable that among the 
hundred and twenty thousand soldiers who were marshalled round Neerwinden 
under all the standards of Western Europe, the two feeblest in body were the 
hunch-backed dwarf who urged forward the fiery onset of France, and the 
asthmatic skeleton who covered the slow retreat of England.” “ History of 
England,” vol. iv. p. 370. New York, 1856. 


620 History of the Netherlands. 

France was exhausted; the United Provinces, which had 
hampered his daring genius and ambition, became parties to 
the treaty of Utrecht in April, 1713; and Belgium passed 
to- the Emperor Charles VI. of Germany, being henceforth 
known as the Austrian Netherlands. The Dutch, though 
receiving their coveted barrier towns, were opposed to the 
peace by which they gained so little, and, recognizing their 
waning influence, resolved not to be drawn into war for the 
interests of their powerful neighbors. But Belgium suffered 
most, as her provinces of Artois, Flanders, and Hainault 
were ceded to France. Had not religious and commer¬ 
cial jealousies prevented a cordial union with the United 
Provinces, she would have fared better. 

Troubles were excited in the Austrian Netherlands in the 
year 1716 by the exactions of the Marquis of Pri^, a Pied¬ 
montese who represented Prince Eugene of Savoy, the gov¬ 
ernor-general, during his defence of Hungary against the 
Turks. Discontented with the Barrier Treaty, the Belgians 
were eager to resent the encroachments of the able but un¬ 
scrupulous Prie upon their ancient privileges. His exactions 
occasioned tumults ’in Brussels, Mechlin, and other cities, 
which were aided by the ambitious intrigues of Cardinal 
Alberoni, minister of Philip V. of Spain. But the inexorable 
Prie, favored by the support of the Emperor Charles VI., 
crushed the defenders of municipal liberty. The council 
of Brabant became his tool, and caused the execution of 
Agneessens, a venerable patriot, and banished four of his 
associates. This was in September, 1718, and it was not 
till six years later that the hated marquis was recalled. 

In 1732 the prosperity and even the existence of the 
United Provinces were mysteriously threatened. The im¬ 
mense dykes of Walcheren and North Holland were found 
to be in a fearful state of decay, thus exposing the country 
to destruction by the ocean. In the public distress prayers 



















































1732 . 


Dangers of the Republic. 


623 


were offered in the churches to avert the danger of being 
speedily overwhelmed by the storms of winter. It was found 
that the ravages were wrought in the solid beams and piles 
by a marine worm called the “ Pholas/’ which was supposed 
to have been brought in vessels from India. But the in¬ 
genuity of the people supplied a remedy for the evil, and 
made the dykes stronger than ever by means of a coating of 
earth and stone. 

The ambition of the Princes of Orange for royal marriages 
continued to be a source of danger for the republic. Thus 
the future William IV. (William Charles Henry Friso, son 
of John William Friso, who was drowned in 1711), while 
stadtholder of three provinces, married the daughter of 
George II. of England in 1734. Two years before, he had 
ceded the principality of Orange to the King of France on 
condition of being allowed to retain the title and give the 
name to one of his estates. The states-general were so 
alarmed at the prince’s marriage, that they took precau¬ 
tions against the overthrow of the government by his par¬ 
tisans. 

The commercial jealousy of the United Provinces of a Bel¬ 
gian corporation known as the Ostend East India Company 
led them into serious difficulties. On condition of the dis¬ 
continuance of this company, which had become very pros¬ 
perous, they agreed to uphold a treaty called the “ Pragmatic 
Sanction,” by which the succession to the estates of the 
Emperor Charles VI. of Germany should, in default of 
sons, vest in his daughters. The emperor died in Octo¬ 
ber, 1740, and his daughter, the Archduchess Maria Theresa, 
found her dominions the prey of rival spoilers. The United 
Provinces now fulfilled their treaty obligations to aid Maria 
Theresa, though to do so Holland was obliged to override 
the constitution and permit a majority vote to control the 
states-general. 


624 History of the Netherlands. 

In revenge for this aid, Louis XV. of France, after over¬ 
running the Austrian Netherlands, invaded Dutch Flanders. 
The alarm thus excited led the populace in Zealand to over¬ 
turn the government and create the Prince of Orange stadt- 
holder. This example was followed in other provinces, and 
William IV. was installed on the 15th of May, 1747, as stadt- 
holder and captain and admiral-general of the union. The 
conquests of the French and internal dissensions forced 
the states to still greater concessions to the Orange party. The 
offices of stadtholder, captain, and admiral-general were made 
hereditary in the family of the prince, even females being 
eligible, though, in case of marriage without consent of the 
states, their children’s rights of succession were barred. The 
stadtholder now assumed many of the insignia of sovereignty. 
Complaints of the decay of public spirit were rife, and the 
states of Holland issued edicts to restrain official corruption. 
The simple, frugal ways of the people had been undermined 
by alien fashions, and women no longer arbitrarily ruled in 
the household. Dutch policy had fostered monopolies, col¬ 
onies, and the carrying trade, at the expense of general 
commerce. The United Provinces now felt the pressure of 
foreign business competition, as well as the burden of their 
wars for independence and ambition. Manufactures and 
ship-building were crippled by heavy taxation, which en¬ 
hanced the price of labor. The government was deeply in 
debt, and private fortunes were invested in foreign loans, 
making money dearer for merchants at home. In ceasing to 
be the brokers and carriers of Europe, the Dutch had be¬ 
come its money-lenders and capitalists. Their political 
power among the nations had departed. Since the peace 
of Utrecht, in 1718, they had abandoned their claims as 
arbiters, and passed under English influence from fear of 
the aggressions of France. Yet, while losing their old-time 
material greatness, they maintained a repute for religious 


1748 . Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. 625 

toleration, business integrity, humane treatment of criminals, 
kindness to fugitives from foreign oppression, and general 
benevolence, which gave them an honorable position among 
civilized nations. 

As France and the United Provinces were exhausted, peace 
was signed at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748. Both parties re¬ 
stored their conquests, but the Dutch fortresses were seri¬ 
ously damaged, and their commerce had suffered greatly. 
Political and religious disturbances aggravated popular dis¬ 
content ; but the power of the stadtholder was increased by 
his appointment as governor of the two great India compa¬ 
nies and of a Pensionary of Holland devoted to his cause. 
Fortunately the prince was well-meaning, and tried to im¬ 
prove the condition of the country instead of grasping the 
sovereignty. His death in 1751, at the age of forty, was 
generally lamented. 

During the minority of William V., his mother, the Princess 
Anne, daughter of George H. of England, carried on the 
government of the United Provinces. She tried to increase 
the stadtholder’s authority, and to involve the country in the 
seven years’ war in the interests of England, whose privateers 
inflicted immense damage on Dutch commerce, under arbi¬ 
trary rules of contraband and blockade. After her death in 
1759, these troubles were abated, though disputes between 
the East India Companies of the two nations threatened their 
renewal. When the prince came of age, in 1766, great 
things were expected of him; but he proved to be very 
irresolute, and was controlled by Prince Louis of Brunswick, 
his preceptor, the commander of the Dutch army, and his 
wife, Frederica Wilhelmina, niece of Frederick the Great. 
As the stadtholder had a taste for letters, and sympathized 
with the intellectual revival in France and England, public 
interest in science, literature, and art was encouraged under 
his rule. The University of Leyden had long been a famous 

40 


626 History of the Netherlands. 

European seat of learning. Formerly illustrated by the great 
names of Grotius, Descartes, Lipsius, Heinsius, Scaliger, 
Vossius, Arminius, and Gomarus,’ it had in this century 
numbered among its professors Boerhaave, Hemsterhuys, 
Ruhnken, and Valckenaer, and with its students Fielding, 
Goldsmith, and other English men of letters, and in the 
previous century had fostered the delicate tastes of Evelyn. 
To further the work of the university, a society for the en¬ 
couragement of literature and science was established at 
Leyden, and this example was followed in other cities. 
Painting and the drama were also favored. 

Following the agricultural and commercial distress of the 
years 1771-73, the United Provinces had troubles with 
France and England during the war of American Indepen¬ 
dence. These difficulties caused disputes between the stadt- 
holder, who was supported by the provinces of Utrecht, 
Overyssel, Zealand, and Gelderland in demanding increase 
of the army, and Holland and Friesland, whose dependence 
on commerce and ship-building led them to insist on re¬ 
storing the navy. Thus the national power was crippled in 
both forces. As Prince Louis of Brunswick and Fagel, sec¬ 
retary of the states-general, sustained English influence, the 
feeble William V. became subject to it, while the cause of 
the French government was favored by Van Berckel, the 
Pensionary of Amsterdam. 

Under the reign of Maria Theresa, which opened so 
stormily, the Austrian Netherlands were unusually prosperous. 
Public instruction, commerce, and agriculture were fostered, 
the ancient University of Louvain being especially cared for. 
Literature and art flourished under this beneficent rule; the 
Jesuits were suppressed, and Flanders and Brabant became a 
blooming garden of industry. The governor. Prince Charles 
of Lorraine, held court in the ancient Orange palace at Brus¬ 
sels ; and his death, in July, 1780, after having ruled Belgium 


1779 - Dutch Difficulties with England. 627 

for thirty-six years, was universally regretted. Four months 
afterward Maria Theresa died in the sixty-fourth year of her 
age, and the forty-first of her reign. The Belgians cherish 
her memory, as one of the best of their foreign rulers. Though 
a strict Catholic and rigidly repressing Protestant worship, she 
kept the ecclesiastical subordinate to the civil power. She 
told her son and successor on her death-bed that she liad 
always sought the welfare of her subjects. “The chief con¬ 
solation of my last moments,” said the conscientious sov¬ 
ereign, “ is that I have never neglected the appeab of the 
unfortunate,” ^ 

Although the states-general of the United Provinces had 
tried to avoid offending the English government by ignoring 
the offer of the United States commissioners, Franklin, Lee, 
and Adams, in April, 1778, for a treaty of amity and com¬ 
merce between the two republics, their caution proved un¬ 
availing. The next year the States of Holland, yielding to 
the influence of France, passed a resolve which was rejected 
by the states-general, in favor of government convoy for 
Dutch vessels bound for French ports. England was thus 
led to search and capture a number of ships so convoyed, on 
suspicion that they contained contraband articles. This act 
resulted in the refusal of the United Provinces to furnish the 
succor required by treaties for the war in which.Great Britain 
was engaged with France and Spain. To protect themselves 
against English assaults, the states proposed to join France 
and Russia in the “Armed Neutrality.” 

The capture by an English frigate, in October, 1780, of a 
v'essel bound for Holland, and the seizure of the despatches 
of Henry Laurens, late President of Congress, the envoy 


1 To give in a single word the history of Maria Theresa, the Belgians were 
happy; and it cannot be said, as Mme. de Stael remarked of the Austrian mon¬ 
archy in general, that it was the happiness of sleep. The Belgians were happy; 
and they felt it, Dewez, “ Cours d’Histoire Belgique,” p. 322, Bruxelles, 1833. 


628 History of the Netherlands. 

from the American government, gave England a pretext 
for taking extreme measures against the United Provinces. 
These despatches showed that Amsterdam burgomasters, 
acting through a merchant named Jan de Neufville, had 
projected with Henry Lee, a London alderman who was 
American commissioner to Vienna and Berlin, a commercial 
treaty with the rebels. But though this act was disavowed 
by the states of Holland and the states-general, it was used 
by the English cabinet as a means of restraining the Dutch 
from the union with France and Russia. So when the 
United Provinces became a party to the Armed Neutrality, 
England declared war against them. The principal reasons 
given for this act were the refusal of the succor guaranteed by 
the treaty, Dutch trade with the rebels, and the conduct of the 
Amsterdam burgomasters. Unfortunately, the difficulties be¬ 
tween the states, or Patriot ” party, as it was called, and 
the stadtholder, prevented energetic action. Unsupported 
by their allies, and paralyzed by domestic dissension, the 
United Provinces saw their commerce fall an easy victim 
to the enemy. The important island of St. Eustatius was 
seized by the rapacious Admiral Rodney, in February, 1781, 
and the South American possessions of the republic were 
also captured, though the French soon regained the con¬ 
quered territory for the Dutch. 

Only one action vindicated the historic naval reputation of 
the countrymen ofTromp and De Ruyter. In August, 1781, 
Admiral Zoutman encountered an English fleet of superior 
strength near Dogger Bank, under Admiral Parker. The bat¬ 
tle lasted nearly four hours, and though both parties claimed 
the victory, the Dutch kept their place. There was great 
joy over the result in the United Provinces, poems were 
composed and songs sung in honor of the heroes of the 
Dogger Bank,” and articles of jewelry and dress were called 
Zoutman, in honor of the gallant admiral. But the news gave 


1781. The Stadtholder s English Leanings. 629 

no pleasure to the extreme Orange partisans, and the stadt- 
holder was said to have exclaimed, on hearing of it, “ I hope 
at least that the English have sustained no loss.” Though 
the states began to strengthen the navy, delay iii executing 
their plans left Dutch commerce at the enemy’s mercy. 


CHAPTER XL. 


RISE OF CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT. 

Belgium learned, during die reign of the Emperor Joseph II. 
of Germany, the successor of Maria Theresa, that the worst 
evils of arbitrary rule may be inflicted by a well-meaning sov¬ 
ereign. An ardent theorist, full of benevolent but impracti¬ 
cable ideas, he excited general opposition by the changes 
which he made in the institutions and customs of the people. 
He began his reign by expelling the garrisons of the United 
Provinces from the Belgian frontier during their war with 
England, and demolishing their fortresses. He then at¬ 
tempted to free the navigation of the Scheldt in violation 
of treaty obligations, but the vessel which he sent down from 
Antwerp toward the sea was fired upon and stopped by the 
Dutch batteries. Through the mediation of Louis XVI. of 
France hostilities were allayed, the Barrier treaty was abro¬ 
gated, and though the Scheldt was kept closed. Forts Lillo 
and Liefkenshoek were ceded to the emperor, who received 
nearly half a million dollars for his claims, on Maestricht. 
After securing these results by the treaty of Fontainebleau, 
Nov. 8, 1785, Joseph H. proposed to the Elector of Bavaria 
to exchange the Austrian Netherlands for his dominions and 
make him a king ; but this Quixotic project was defeated by 
the influence of Frederick the Great of Prussia. Thus left 
at leisure to carry out his schemes of reorganization in the 
Belgian provinces, the emperor not only assailed priestly 
power, but the civil rights guaranteed by the Joyous En¬ 
trance and other ancient charters of liberty. He tried to 


1789- Revolt of the Austrian Netherlajtds. 631 

dragoon the Council of Brabant into submission, surrounded 
the hall of the states with artillery, and threatened to turn 
Brussels into a desert. 

Had the people been united, they might have preserved 
their newly acquired independence; but after driving out 
the Austrians, they had bitter conflicts in their own ranks. 
The party of the moderate reformer, Vonck, and his asso¬ 
ciate, the gallant general Van der Mersch, was overmatched 
by the masses and the states, under the blind lead of an 
enthusiast named Van der Noot, who wished to restore all 
the old abuses. The frightful excesses of his followers forced 
the people into the power of the Emperor Leopold, the suc¬ 
cessor of Joseph, whose death was hastened by the success¬ 
ful assault upon his rule. His redeeming work was his 
famous Edict of Toleration, by which Protestants were al¬ 
lowed freedom of worship and the right to hold public 
office. England, Russia, and the United Provinces guaran¬ 
teed the sovereignty of Leopold and the Belgian constitu¬ 
tion, Dec. 10, 1790; but as the emperor refused to confirm 
any privileges not existing at the accession of Joseph H., 
the allies withdrew their guarantee. 

The inefficiency of the Dutch government excited discon¬ 
tent with the Orange party. The Prince of Brunswick was 
forced to leave the country, and the states-general recognized 
the independence of the United States of America.^ Before 

1 “ The Dutch republic was the second power in the world to recognize the 
independence of the United States of America, and the act proceeded from its 
heroic sympathy with a young people struggling against oppression after the 
example of its owm ancestors. The American minister (John Adams) found 
special pleasure in being introduced to the court where the first and the third 
William accomplished such great things for the Protestant religion and the rights 
of mankind. This country,’ wrote he to a friend, ‘ appears to be more a home 
than any other that I have seen. I have often been to that church at Leyden 
where the planters of Plymouth worshipped so many years ago, and felt a kind 
of veneration for the bricks and timbers.’ ” Bancroft, “ History of the United 
States,” vol. x. p. 528. Boston, 1874. 


632 History of the Netherlands.. 

long the states of Holland deprived the stadtholder of the 
command of the garrison at the Hague and of the captain- 
generalship, as a rebuke to his encouragement of repressive 
measures. But as the aristocratic states would not admit 
the people to a share in the government, the popular party 
forcibly reorganized them. These and other excesses excited 
a reaction in favor of the Prince of Orange, who intrigued 
with his brother-in-law, the new king of Prussia, Frederick IL, 
to restore his authority. 

The arrest of his sister, the Princess of Orange, by the 
states of Holland on her way to the Hague from the court at 
Nimeguen, gave the king an excuse for sending an army into 
the provinces under the Duke of Brunswick, in September, 
1787. He had also been promised the aid of twelve thou¬ 
sand Hessians by England, in case of French aid to the 
opponents of the stadtholder. Despite their brave resolu¬ 
tions, the “ patriots,” who vainly sought aid from France, 
offered little resistance to the invaders. The stronghold of 
Utrecht was abandoned, Sept. 16, 1787, without an attempt 
at defence by the Rhingrave of Salms, one of the leaders of 
the aristocratic wing of the patriot party, in whom the states 
had blindly confided. This defection excited a reaction in 
favor of the stadtholder, who entered the Hague amid exult¬ 
ing shouts. The streets were decked with orange-colored 
flowers, and orange flags decorated the churches. The 
Grand Pensionary Bleiswyck, the chief of the aristocratic 
patriots,” came to greet the prince, who said, as they 
looked upon the surging crowd, “ Behold the voice of the 
people.” 

Only one city held out against the Prussian advance. 
Resenting the terms of the Duke of Brunswick, the haughty 
Amsterdam pierced the dykes and laid the surrounding 
country under water. But neglect to guard the approach 
by the lake of Haarlem enabled the besiegers to land a 



THE PRINCE ENTERING BRUSSELS. 633 




























1788. 


Foreign Support of the Stadtholder. 635 


force in boats, which compelled the surrender of the city. 
The old government was restored and a Prussian garrison 
was admitted. For the first time in her whole history, the 
proud capital saw a victorious enemy within her walls, and 
her humiliation was increased by the knowledge that it was 
the work of the deposed chief of the house of Orange. 

Prussia and England now guaranteed by treaty the hered¬ 
itary stadtholderate, and the English government wielded 
great authority in the country. Orange badges were forced 
upon unwilling patriots, and the naval and military officers 
who had served the states of Holland were dismissed and 
otherwise punished. The King of Prussia and the Duke of 
Brunswick were greeted as deliverers by the states-general. 
Even the Whig leaders in the English parliament justified the 
action of the ministry towards the United Provinces. Fox, 
instead of rebuking this interference in the domestic affairs of 
a weak power, praised it; and Burke, who also eulogized the 
action of the government, reserved his satire for the thin pre¬ 
text which veiled the royal assaults.^ 

The reliance by the stadtholder upon foreign bayonets, and 
the feeble resistance of the patriots, showed the decline of the 
national spirit. Neglect to remedy the defects of their con¬ 
stitution, the ambition of the house of Orange for royal mar¬ 
riages with its burdens of foreign war, and the growth of the 

1 “ A chivalrous king, hearing that a princess had been affronted, takes his 
lance, assembles his knights, and determines to do her justice. He sets out in¬ 
stantly with all his knights, in quest of adventures, and carries all before him, 
achieving wonders in the cause of the injured princess. This reminded him of 
the ancient story of the Princess Latona, who, having been insulted by a nation 
like the Dutch, appealed to Jupiter for satisfaction, when the god in revenge for 
her wrongs turned the nation that affronted her into a nation of frogs, and left 
them to live among dykes and waters. Although the King of Prussia had, pro¬ 
fessedly, set out merely to obtain adequate satisfaction for the injury done his 
sister, his army by accident took Utrecht, possessed themselves of Amsterdam, 
restored the stadtholder, the former government, and all this at a stroke and by 
the bye.” “ Parliamentary History,” vol. xxvi. column 1277. 


636 History of the Netherlands. 

great powers about them, aided this change. The Princess 
of Orange, who had a much stronger character than her 
husband, arbitrarily strengthened his power and prepared 
the way for the milder rule of Van de Spiegel, the Grand 
Pensionary of Holland, the able adviser of the youthful 
prince. 

Belgium and the United Provinces were both victims to 
the passion for conquest which inspired revolutionary France 
in 1792. After alternate defeat and victory, they were sub¬ 
dued in spite of Austrian and English aid. The triumph of 
Dumouriez at Jemappes, Nov. 6, first laid open the Belgian 
provinces to the French arms; and after being regained for 
Austria by the Archduke Charles in 1793, they were over¬ 
come by Pichegru in the following year. Though the 
United Provinces had tried to remain neutral, the conquests 
of the French and the opening of the Scheldt, forced them 
into the war. Profiting by the unusually severe winter, 
Pichegru advanced over the frozen waters of Holland, occu¬ 
pied Amsterdam, crossed the ice with his hussars, and cap¬ 
tured the Dutch fleet in the Texel. These successes obliged 
the stadtholder, William V., to take refuge with his family 
in England. The Belgians, who threw off the yoke of Fran¬ 
cis IL, the new emperor of Germany, were sadly disappointed 
in their hopes of freedom, and suffered terribly from Jacobin 
license. The anti-stadtholder party in the United Provinces 
had also welcomed the invaders, whose triumph was pre¬ 
pared by revolutionary committees in Amsterdam and other 
places. The infatuated Dutchmen danced round trees of 
liberty in greeting to their conquerors. In the flood of revo¬ 
lutionary fervor nearly all the landmarks of political, social, 
and religious conservatism were swept away, the only excep¬ 
tion being the states-general, who still clung to their title of 
High and Mighty Lords. The Batavian republic rose on the 
ruins of the ancient order. 


i8io. 


French Domination. 


637 


The union of Belgium with the French republic,' decreed 
by the national convention Oct. i, 1795, was followed by 
more devastation and brigandage; and even the coveted free¬ 
dom of the Scheldt, which had been granted some months 
before, to the disgust of Holland, could not allay the general 
discontent. Bonaparte, however, on becoming First Consul, 
did much to restore prosperity to Belgium, where he was 
received with great enthusiasm.^ But the Batavian republic 
felt the burden of his rule. With their Oriental possessions 
a prey to British fleets, with hostile armies ravaging their 
borders, the sway of Schimmelpenninck, their ambassador to 
France under the title of Grand Pensionary, in 1805, with a 
constitution imposed by Napoleon, prepared the Dutch for 
the reign of Louis Bonaparte, as King of Holland. His brief 
rule, though well meaning, failed, alike from its increase of 
the national debt and from the restraints enforced upon him 
by the emperor, to relieve the distress of the country. 

The annexation of Holland to the empire in 1810 ground 
her down under the burden of taxation and conscription, 
while a political and legal system, wholly unsuited to the 
people, completed the work of alienation. Meantime the 
grand dockyards and arsenals constructed by Napoleon at 
Antwerp had excited the fears of England. She sent a 
great expedition to capture the city, which failed from the 
official incapacity which sacrificed the lives of twenty thou¬ 
sand soldiers in the marshes of Walcheren. 

The defeat of Napoleon at. Leipsic excited a general 
insurrection in the Batavian provinces of the empire. Sus- 

1 Candid Belgian historians admit that French domination had benefits as 
well as injuries for their country. It substituted centralization for a narrow 
provincialism, diminished the undue power of the nobility and clergy, whicli 
was interested in maintaining all the old abuses, and by its contact with a 
bright and progressive civilization, helped to dissipate the intellectual torpor 
which was the fatal legacy of Spanish rule. Borgnet, “ Histoire des Beiges,” 
tom, ii. p. 364. Bruxelles, 1862. 


638 


History of the Netherlands. 


tained by Prussian and Russian troops, the Prince of Orange, 
son of the stadtholder William V., entered the Hague and as¬ 
sumed the title of Prince Sovereign of the United Provinces, 
on the ist of December, 1813. ‘‘The Dutch have taken 
Holland ! ” was the exclamation then heard throughout Eng¬ 
land, confusing the ideas of geography current among school- 
children and other persons ill-informed in contemporary 
history. On the downfall of Bonaparte, the great powers 
decreed the union of Belgium and the United Provinces, by 
the treaty of London, June 20, 1814; and the Congress of 
Vienna in the following year added the grand-duchy of Lux¬ 
emburg, which was made a part of the Germanic confedera¬ 
tion, to the new kingdom. The union was cemented by the 
valor, signalized in Wellington’s despatch, with which the 
Prince of Orange led the Netherland troops at Waterloo until 
forced by a wound to leave the field. As William 1 . he was 
crowned King of the Netherlands in Brussels, Sept. 27, 1815. 

This union of the Dutch and Belgians was too artificial to 
last. It was a political blunder to place people so diverse 
in character and interests under one government. The 
result was that the narrow-minded King William made a 
knowledge of Dutch a requisite for office, and interfered 
with Catholic religion and education. Heavy taxes, un¬ 
equal representation in the states-general, abolition of trial 
by jury, and restrictions on freedom of the press, added 
to the grievances of the Belgians, who only awaited a favor¬ 
able opportunity to break their bonds. The tardy and insuf¬ 
ficient concessions of the king were useless.^ The storm 

1 “The true revolutionist was the Netherland government, which did not 
respect its sworn faith, which imposed on us its language, which excluded us 
from the public service, which seized the education of our children, and which 
wished to destroy or corrupt our religion. On its side were violent usurpation, 
and the causes of trouble; on ours, right and law, efforts for reconciliation and 
peace.” Gerlache, “ Histoire du Royaume des Pays-Bas,” Introduction, p. xxiv. 
Bruxelles, 1842. 


WATERLOO, 


639 












i 


1831. Independence of Belgiimi. 641 

which swept away the throne of Charles X. of France de¬ 
stroyed the kingdom of the Netherlands. 

Beginning in Brussels on the night of the 25th of August, 
1830, the insurrection spread through the country. The Dutch 
troops who had entered Brussels under command of the 
Prince of Orange were driven- back, and though the citadel 
of Antwerp again bombarded the historic capital, the inde¬ 
pendence of Belgium was soon assured. The five powers 
that had signed the treaty of Paris guaranteed the act of 
the national congress which excluded the house of Orange- 
Nassau, and placed Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, uncle 
of Victoria, the future Queen of England, on the throne. 
He was enthroned at Brussels on the 21st of July, 1831. 
Twelve days afterward an invasion of seventy thousand 
Dutch soldiers, who after defeating his troops threatened 
his capital, obliged the king to seek aid from France and 
England. The advance of a French army into Belgium and 
the appearance of an English fleet on their coast caused the 
Dutch to withdraw. Objecting to the division of Luxemburg 
made by the directing powers, they refused to give up Ant¬ 
werp, but were compelled to surrender it by a French army 
under Marshal Gerard, Dec. 23, 1832, the combined fleets 
of France and England blockading* the Dutch ports. It was 
not, however, till the treaty of London, April 19, 1839, that 
the two countries came to a final settlement, by which the 
free passage of the Scheldt was secured to Belgium. 

The next year, William 1 . resigned the crown of Holland, 
and William 11 . reigned peacefully till his death, in 1849, 
when he was succeeded by his eldest son, the present king, 
William HI., whose convivial and musical tastes have gained 
him the appellation of King Cole. The great ship canal 
from Amsterdam to the North Sea, completed in November, 
1876, is the chief internal improvement of his reign. Enter¬ 
prising Rotterdam has also constructed a North Sea. canal; 

41 


642 History of the Netherlands. 

and the projects for draining the Zuyder Zee and for giving 
Amsterdam a direct canal to the Rhine show the spirit of 
enterprise excited in Holland since the removal of old-time 
commercial restrictions. The recent international exhibition 
emphasizes the value of those East India possessions which 
have made the Dutch the second colonizing power in the 
world, their colonies containing more than six times the 
home population. Few of Holland’s heroes are more hon¬ 
ored than Jan Pieterszoon Koen, the founder of Batavia, who 
solidified the oriental empire of the republic, and who has 
been called the Clive of the Netherlands. The moderation 
of the excessive license of the Kermesse, or great annual Fair, 
indicates social progress among the Dutch. Amsterdam’s 
abolition of this time-honored carnival in 1876 resulted in 
an outbreak of mob violence which the military were called 
out to suppress. The removal of the objectionable features 
of the national festival, while retaining this outlet for popular 
merriment, is a cause for satisfaction. 

A fresher spirit has inspired Dutch literature since the 
appearance of Bilderdijk, who died in 1831 at the age of 
seventy-five, and who, with Cats and Vondel, is generally 
regarded as one of the three representative poets of Holland. 
His successor in domestic'tendencies was the Jew, Da Costa. 
The romantic poems of Tollens and Bogaers, who vividly de¬ 
picted some of those heroic achievements in Dutch history 
which the great painters neglected; the lyrics of Staring, the 
novels of Van Lennep, Ten Brink’s picturesque views of 
colonial life in the East Indies, the criticism of Bakhuyzen 
van den Brink, the poetic humor and philosophy of Beets, 
the essays of Hasebroek, the Dutch Charles Lamb, show the 
ideal side of the intellect of the sturdy Hollanders. But 
Paul Potter’s Bull is, as a distinguished critic has said, the 
true Dutch idyl; and the descendants of the traders of Am¬ 
sterdam and the fishermen of the Zuyder Zee, who triumphed 


1848. 


The Wave of Revoliitio7i. 


643 


over the fleets and armies of the great empire of Spain, may 
well pride themselves, in their placid retirement, upon their 
hereditary virtues of benevolence, integrity, and thrift. 

Belgium felt the wave of revolution in 1848 more than 
Holland, although a liberal government was in power, and 
the feeble French assault was repelled. The shock to public 
credit resulted in a temporary suspension of cash payments. 
Leopold I. died, Dec. 10, 1865, greatly lamented by the 
people. During his reign of thirty-four years educational 
and other reforms strengthened the cause of good govern¬ 
ment. “Belgium, like myself, has lost a father,” said his 
successor, the present king, Leopold 11 . Two years after 
his accession Netherland independence was threatened by 
the intrigues of Napoleon III. Jealous of the power of 
Prussia assured by her victory over Austria at Sadowa, the 
emperor vainly tried to induce Bismarck to support his 
project for the purchase of Luxemburg and to aid him to 
conquer Belgium. The Prussian government prevented the 
King of Holland, who feared that it would force him into a 
Germanic confederation, from selling Luxemburg to the 
emperor, and called in the powers that had signed the treaty 
of 1839. treaty of London, May ti, 1867, Lux¬ 

emburg was constituted a neutral state in the possession of 
the house of Orange-Nassau, Prussia renounced the right of 
garrison in the great fortress which was soon after demol¬ 
ished, and Holland acquired Limburg. Revenge for being 
thwarted in his designs on Luxemburg and Belgium urged 
Napoleon forward in that opposition to Germany which cost 
him his throne and laid France at the feet of her rival. 
On the breaking out of this war in 1870, England by treaty 
with each of the belligerents sustained the independence 
and neutrality of Belgium. 

The independence of Belgium stimulated that material and 
intellectual activity which is now so marked. It is the most 


644 History of the Netherlands. 

densely populated country in Europe, and was the first on 
the Continent to establish a system of railways. Antwerp 
commemorated by the unveiling of a monument on the nth 
of August, 1883, in the Place Marnix, the emancipation of 
the Scheldt twenty years before from all the old restrictions 
on its navigation which was definitely closed by the treaty 
of Munster and the general peace of Westphalia in 1648. The 
Belgian government has taken a leading part in the African 
International Association, designed to develop the resources 
of the interior of the Dark Continent. It sent out the veteran 
explorer Stanley, and also the ambitious De Brazza, who has 
since acted in the interests of France. The recent comple¬ 
tion of the magnificent Palace of Justice, at Brussels, one of 
the largest and most remarkable architectural productions 
of modern times, emphasizes the growing taste and wealth 
of Belgium. A less imposing monument lately erected in 
Antwerp illustrates the national pride in literary as well as 
commercial and artistic progress. Henri Conscience, the 
novelist, whose exquisite pictures of Flemish home-life have 
won him a more extended fame than any other Belgian 
author has ever enjoyed, had the rare satisfaction of seeing 
his statue unveiled in the public square which bears his 
name about two weeks before his death, which occurred on 
the loth of September, 1883. With the poets Lederganck 
and Van Duyse, he had adorned the revival of Flemish lit¬ 
erature, the success of which, notwithstanding government 
encouragement, is hampered by the general use of the French 
language by the Belgians. 


CHAPTER XLI. 


THE NETHERLANDS OF TO-DAY. 

With the defeat of the liberal party under Van 
Lynden’s administration in 1883, the conservatives 
assumed the responsibilities of government, pledged 
to the speedy accomplishment of drastic financial 
reforms, and the enlargement of the scope of the 
electoral laws. The threatened reduction of the lim¬ 
itation of the franchise had further contributed to 
their overthrow. The people were insistent in their 
demands for an extension of the suffrage, and the 
members of the states-general, conscious of the pop¬ 
ular will, shipwrecked the ministry by an adverse 
vote of sixty-six to two. The revision of the consti¬ 
tution, as desired by the defeated administration, 
briefly described, was as follows: (i) to make the 
law of succession to the throne clear and complete, 
(2) to empower the council of state to speak out 
independently in administrative affairs, (3) to abol¬ 
ish the electoral cense, and substitute an intellectual 
qualification, and to reduce the terms of representa¬ 
tion, so that the states-general would be entirely 
renewed every five years, (4) complete introduction 
of personal military service, (5) abolition of the oath, 
(6) an easier method of revising the constitution. 


646 


History of the Netherlands. 


"^The members of the new ministry, who were chiefly 
outside and untried mem, now applied themselves to 
the task of “regulating the disordered finances of 
the country,” and appointed a special commission to 
study the vexed question of the revision of the con¬ 
stitution. The financial embarrassments of the repub¬ 
lic, however, had little effect on the abiding faith of 
the Netherlanders in their own commercial possibili¬ 
ties, for, when tenders for the four per cent, loan of 
sixty million guilders were invited, over twelve times 
the amount asked for was subscribed, and an act was 
passed authorizing the melting down of twenty-five 
million silver guilders to prevent depreciation of the 
currency. But affairs of state were not permitted to 
interfere with the International Exhibition in progress 
at Amsterdam, which, though insignificant in regard 
to extent of area as compared with the expositions 
which were to follow in other lands, ranked in point 
of size next after that held in Paris in i888.f One 
of its principal fe^atures was a complete representa¬ 
tion of the Dutch East India Colonies. 

*The public debt, in 18S3, amounted to nine hundred and eighty-nine 
million seven hundred and three thousand three hundred and fifty guilders, 
and ten million guilders of paper money. 

The constitution at this time remained the same as that proclaimed in 
1848, which vested the legislative authority in the states-general, which was 
composed of two chambers, viz.: the “ Upper,” which consisted of thirty- 
nine members, chosen by the provincial councils from the highest class of 
taxpayers, and the “ Lower,” comprising eighty-six members, elected by 
citizens paying from twenty to sixty guilders direct taxes. Executive 
authority was exercised through a council of eight ministers. 

The population, in 1882, was four million one hundred and seventy-three 
thousand, eighty-two thousand being Israelites. 

•{-The International, Colonial and General Exportation Exhibition was 
opened in Amsterdam on May i, 1883. It occupied twenty-five acres of 
ground. The United States sent no commissioner, the display of Ameri¬ 
can goods being made by agents. 


The War in Acheen. 


647 


The war in Acheen in Sumatra which had been 
in intermittent progress for years, and which had 
been entered upon as a preventative against the intru¬ 
sion of any foreign power in the Malaysian Archipel¬ 
ago, broke out afresh. The cessation of aggressive hos¬ 
tilities on the part of the Dutch, which had so far 
mulcted the treasury of three hundred million guilders, 
and at a sacrifice of thousands of lives, would, it had 
been hoped, have practically established peace. But 
the withdrawal of the military administration in 1880, 
and the appointment of a civil governor, were inter¬ 
preted as signs of weakness and encouraged the 
Achenese, who were now well equipped with rifles 
and other munitions of war, to renew their depreda¬ 
tions. The civil governor was in turn dismissed, 
military rule was hastily re-established, and sangui¬ 
nary conflicts became of almost daily occurrence. The 
district of Great Acheen, which formerly contained a 
population of nearly four hundred thousand, was all 
but decimated, the number having been reduced by 
war, and accompanying disease, to less than fifty 
thousand. The stranding of the British ship, Nisero, 
and the capture and retention of the crew as hostages, 
by the Rajah of Tenom, unexpectedly produced a 
temporary cessation of warfare. Originally held with 
the belief that their retention would serve for the 
purpose of a game of political shuttlecock, and make 
it possible for the rajah to reap advantageous terms 
from both England and Holland, he essayed, with 
misguided diplomatic intent, to “play” one govern¬ 
ment against the other. An insulting letter addressed 
to the English authorities, declining England’s further 


648 History of the Netherlands. 

mediation with the Dutch, failed, however, to have 
the anticipated effect. Instead of further bandying of 
words, a threat was made by the British to dispatch 
an expedition jointly with the Dutch to discipline the 
recalcitrant rajah, and the surviving members of the 
Nisero were hastily surrendered. 

With the death of the feeble and aged Prince of 
Orange, the only male heir to the throne, and last 
descendant of the great house of Orange, the regency 
of the grand duchy of Luxemburg passed into the 
hands of the king. This occurred on June 2nd, 1884, 
and the succession to the throne of Holland passed to 
the Princess Wilhelmina, King William’s last surviv¬ 
ing daughter, and now only four years of age. The 
socialists, who for some time had remained in a quies¬ 
cent state, and taken but a passive interest in current 
events, with the advent of the ensuing year clamored 
loudly for legislation tending to universal suffrage, 
and the improvement of the condition of the working 
man. Many were arrested for rioting and for posting 
placards insulting to the king. The decline in the 
volume of colonial products also continued to cause in¬ 
creased governmental uneasiness. A fall of forty per 
cent, in the price of sugar produced a crisis in the East 
India trade and nearly precipitated a financial crash in 
Holland. The suspension of the culture of sugar in 
India, which had existed for some years past on bor¬ 
rowed money, was seriously threatened. Not only 
had the request for further cash advances been posi¬ 
tively refused by the banks, but the liquidating of the 
old loans peremptorily demanded. This stoppage of 
cultivation meant more than was at first sight apparent, 


Hostility to Reform. 


649 


for it seriously imperilled the social and political status 
of the whole of the Dutch possessions in the East 
Indies, for the income of the resident native aristoc¬ 
racy was largely derived from the rents of the planta¬ 
tions, upon nearly two hundred of which thirty million 
guilders were annually expended. Another home 
loan of sixty million guilders was floated, and a revi¬ 
sion of the lottery act, so as to increase the revenues of 
the treasury, was also made in order to help to meet 
the increasing deficit. Bimetallism was now de¬ 
manded by some as a remedy for the prevailing com¬ 
mercial depression. In the midst of these troubles the 
new ministry, in the face of an adverse vote, resigned, 
but the king refused to entrust the responsibility of 
self-government to the liberals, the people were ap¬ 
pealed to, the administration was sustained, and with 
a new leader—Heemskerk—expressed its readiness to 
extend the electoral franchise—hitherto refused—and 
make the needed revision of the constitution. 

While the depression in colonial commerce seriously 
disturbed the current of trade abroad, a growing feel¬ 
ing of hardly explainable discontent continued to per¬ 
vade a large section of the urban population at home. 
The minds of the people were agitated over the alleged 
violence of the authorities in the suppressing of street 
demonstrations, and the reputed persecution of their 
popular representative. A law was passed against 
drunkenness ; the festival of the Kirmiss with its eight 
days of questionable license, was interdicted, and the 
favorite pastime of eel-baiting was forbidden upon the 
reasonable grounds of cruelty The latter practice 
was, however, continued, and when in Amsterdam in 


650 History of the Netherlands. 

1886 police interference was authorized, a tremendous 
riot ensued. Barricades were erected under the pro¬ 
tection of which the mob made a determined resist¬ 
ance, and it was not until large detachments of infan¬ 
try and cavalry were called out, twenty-five of the 
rioters killed and fifty wounded, that the assemblage 
was dispersed. Many of the police actuated by sym¬ 
pathy resigned, the jails were filled, and the sale of 
newspapers upon the streets was prohibited. Of the 
ringleaders, the socialist Fortuyns, a journalist, and a 
social-democrat named Vanderstart, were arrested, 
and imprisoned, and a bill restricting the rights of as¬ 
sembly was passed by the parliament. 

The troubles in unhappy Acheen still continued, 
though, under the new policy of concentration, the 
troops forming the outposts had been withdrawn and 
offensive hostilities abandoned, the English settlers in 
Penang, upon the pretext that the army of the Nether¬ 
lands was unable to maintain “settled order,” and who 
had good reasons for coveting the district, while sur¬ 
reptitiously furnishing the rebels with arms and am- 
unition, called upon Great Britain to interfere in the 
interests of peace. Another vessel was captured by a 
piratical crew off the port of Riga, all the Europeans 
on board were killed, and emboldened by the late suc¬ 
cesses of the Rajah of Tenom, the captain’s wife and the 
engineer were carried into the interior and only sur¬ 
rendered to the Dutch authorities upon the payment 
of twenty-five thousand dollars ransom. A vain at¬ 
tempt was made by the government to enlist a new 
European force of several thousand men, but notwith¬ 
standing a tempting bounty and increased pay but few 


The Elections m 1888. 


651 


responded to the invitation. In the more settled dis¬ 
tricts of Sumatra, however, substantial commercial 
progress stood out in marked contrast to the war cloud 
which, with monotonous but malign repetition, con¬ 
tinued to gather and break over other portions of the 
island. On the former island recent explorations had 
disclosed the existence of vast coal fields on the Um- 
bili river, reputed to contain two hundred million tons 
of lignite, and capital was readily subscribed for the 
construction of a line of railway from Mocara Kalaban 
to the Bay of Brandewyns, which, passing by Fort de 
Hock, the seat of government, would penetrate the 
mining district. 

The impending elections in 1888 now aroused the 
keenest interest of the people and continued to absorb 
almost the entire attention of the government and the- 
contending factions, to the exclusion of other business, 
until the declaration of the result of the polling which 
took place in March. By the modifications in the 
constitution, which had been passed in 1887, the right 
of electoral suffrage was extended, the cense had been 
reduced, and for every fifteen persons there was now 
one qualified elector. By ’this expansion of the fran¬ 
chise the total number of electors was increased about 
one hundred and twenty per cent, and the privilege 
was extended to all male persons of twenty-three 
years of age who paid ten guilders in personal taxes, 
inclusive of army officers. Still more liberal amend¬ 
ments had been offered by the legislature but were re¬ 
jected by the cabinet. Under the first application of 
the progressive provisions of the new constitution, the 
returns from the polling places showed a rather singular 


652 History of the Netherlands. 

appreciation, on the part of the electors, of the en¬ 
larged responsibilities conferred upon them, and a 
contradictory divergence of opinion. For the Second 
Chamber the new membership was constituted as fol¬ 
lows : Liberals, forty-five. Anti-revolutionists (Cal¬ 
vinist clericals), twenty-seven, Roman Catholics, 
twenty-six, one Conservative and one Socialist (Nien- 
wenhuist). Of the fifty members comprising the First 
Chamber, thirty-five were Liberals, ten Ultramon- 
tanes, four Conservatives and one Calvinist. As the 
Liberals were left without a majority in the Lower 
House, Heemskerk and his colleagues resigned. 

Of the new ministry, Hartsen (Min. of Foreign Af¬ 
fairs) and Ruys van Beerenbeck. were high conserv¬ 
atives. The former being a protestant, and the lat¬ 
ter a Catholic. Dyserinck, a Liberal (Min. of Ma¬ 
rine) and Keuchenius, a radical (Min. of Colonies), 
were pledged to the principles of “ Confessional Edu¬ 
cation” and favored universal obligatory military serv¬ 
ice, of which • system Colonel Bergentius, the new 
minister of war, was an uncompromising advocate. 
Keuchenius, the dictator of the colonial policy, was 
also deeply and reasonably possessed with the desire 
to purify the colonial methods of administration, a 
laudable determination, but one which, owing to the 
somewhat utopian practices subsequently employed, 
ultimately led to his dismissal. 

Meanwhile the health of the king’s mind and body, 
which had already made necessary the appointment 
of Queen Emma as guardian of her daughter ^—the 
Princess Wilhelmina—had become so precarious that 
the states-general was convened for the purpose of 


Secular Education. 


653 


establishing a provisional regency. An improvement, 
however, took place in the king’s condition and 
further action was postponed. 

One of the first acts of the new legislature was the 
passage of a measure amending the Education Act of 
1878, which had provided for the defraying of the cost 
of the maintenance of the schools by charging the 
government with thirty per cent., and the communes 
wdth seventy per cent., of the total expenditures. By 
the “ primary instruction” law of 1857, extended by 
legislation passed in 1878, the system of popular edu¬ 
cation then introduced had appreciably diminished 
the standing evil of illiteracy.* The electorate in 
1888, which had defeated the Heemskerk administra¬ 
tion, were, however, strongly opposed—both protes- 
tant and catholics—to the principles of secular educa¬ 
tion, and further amendments to the School Act were 
passed by the Chambers. The new regulations pro¬ 
vided for the bestowal of government grants to the 
teachers of private schools based upon the number of 
the attendance, which was restricted to six hundred, 
and the grant limited to four hundred guilders per an¬ 
num. The friends of sectarian schools among the 
clerical and evangelistic parties were, however, far 
from satisfied, and regarded the inovation with dis¬ 
trust. More cabinet changes took place in 1890, 
Keuchenius, the recognized leader of the orthodox 
protestants, through a mistaken view of what he con¬ 
sidered to be the conscientious discharge of the re¬ 
sponsibilities of his office, incurred the displeasure of 

*In the rural localities, at the present day, about one-fifth of the adult 
males and one-fourth of the adult females are unable to read or write. 


654 


History . of the Netherlands. 


the government. He took advantage of the oppor¬ 
tunities afforded by his position to engage in mission¬ 
ary work while administering the affairs of the colo¬ 
nies."^ He was accused of fomenting religious strife by 
taking measures for the protection of the Christian 
population, unsolicited, and of attempting to restrict 
the religious liberties of the Mahomedans in order to 
please his Calvinistic and Ultramontane supporters, 
but he failed in his scheme for the evangelizing of the 
natives, and was so unmercifully criticized that the 
colonial budget was rejected and his resignation fol¬ 
lowed. The policy of using the power of the govern¬ 
ment for Christianizing the inhabitants of Java was 
not pursued by his successor. 

Notwithstanding these political disturbances, which 
while having little material influence on the country 
at large might reasonably have been supposed to have 
had a depressing effect on trade, commerce was slowly 
expanding. The conversion of the four per cent., issue 
of stock into three and a half per cents, which was ac¬ 
complished in 1886, had reduced the annual charge 
for interest on the public debt by one hundred and 
eighteen thousand guilders, arid the capital account 
by over seven million. The exports in 1890 showed 
an increase of twenty-three million guilders, and the im¬ 
ports an increase of fourteen million guilders, over the 
figures of the previous year ; but the trade with the 
United States showed a decline. No duties were lev¬ 
ied on raw materials, and on manufactured articles a 
duty of five per cent, upon the import value "was im¬ 
posed for revenue only. Holland still preserved her 


♦Appleton. 


Holland's Policy of Free-trade, 


655 


free-trade policy in spite of the protectionist doctrines 
which largely controlled the other countries of Europe. 
She had long ago taught the western nations finance, 
and better still, commercial honor. “She also incul¬ 
cated free trade, a lesson which is nearly as hard to 
learn, if not harder, since the conspiracy against pri¬ 
vate right is watchfully incessant, and, as some would 
make us believe, respectable.” It is doubtful whether 
any other small European race, after passing through 
the trials which the Dutch endured from the peace of 
Aix-la-Chapelle to the conclusion of the continental 
war, ever had so entire a recovery. 

In May, 1889, the regency of the grand duchy of 
Luxemberg, which, owing to the health of William II., 
had been entrusted to the Duke Adolph of Nassau, 
again passed into the hands of the king by his own 
decree, and the provisional regent returned to Germany. 

In 1890 the system of compulsory native labor, which 
had governed the culture system of Java^ since 1832, 
ceased, in accordance with the provisions of the act 

*The Dutch possessions in the East Indies at the present day (1S95) com¬ 
prise the whole of the Sunda Islands, with the exception of a small portion 
of Borneo and Eastern Timor, together with western New Guinea, and 
cover an area of seven hundred and eighteen thousand square miles and a 
population of twenty-eight million five hundred thousand, of whom as many 
as twenty-one million four hundred and fifty-nine thousand four hundred 
and fifty live in the islandsof Java and Madura, and four hundred and five 
thousand seven hundred and twenty-seven in the Moluccas. Included in 
this estimate are many districts in the interior of Sumatra, Borneo, Cele¬ 
bes and other islands, in which Dutch sovereignty is merely nominal. The 
outlying islands are frequently administered by their own princes, subject 
to the directions of a Dutch Resident. The colonial revenue for 1895 is es¬ 
timated at nearly fifty-two million dollars, the estimated expenditure at 
fifty-seven million dollars. The exports in 1S93 amounted to eighty-nine 
million five hundred and eighty-three thousand three hundred and thirty 
dollars, and the imports to seventy-one million two hundred and fifty 
thousand dollars. 


656 History of the Netherlands. 

passed in 1870, but only as regarded the cultivation of 
sugar. Up to 1888 indigo, pepper, tea and tobacco, 
at least in sufficient quantities to meet native con¬ 
sumption, had also been cultivated by forced labor 
under official superintendence, and coffee was the only 
staple now remaining that was produced under the old 
system. The failure of this latter crop in 1888, the 
crisis in indigo and sugar, and the discovery of official 
irregularities had, of course, given rise to widespread 
discontent, and “the heretofore submissive natives, 
now impoverished, and weakened by the opium habit,” 
which was largely on the increase, at last revolted. 
A pretender to the throne of the late sultan appeared 
before the town of Bantam at the head of an insurrec¬ 
tionary force, which was finally subdued, but with 
great difficulty. This was followed by grave rumors 
of an impending and general uprising, prevented at 
the last moment by the seizure of the ringleaders at 
Surakarto, who confessed to a well organized plot for 
the restoration of the Empire of Java, and at Vorsten- 
landen, a seal of state was taken, upon which was en¬ 
graved the name of “ Mangku Negoro IV.,” as the 
prospective ruler of the new kingdom. But though 
quiet was in a measure restored, it was apparent that 
rebellion was far from being extinguished, and as a 
tentative stroke of policy, a sum of forty-five thousand 
guilders was voted by the legislature for the purposes 
of pensioning off those of the chiefs who had relaxed 
in their hostilities, and even the restoration of the sul¬ 
tanate and the evacuation of Acheen was seriously 
contemplated. Upon the heels of the first outbreak, 
another rebellion followed in 1889, of still greater pro- 


Death of King William III, 


657 


portions, and Bantam was once again the theater of 
the disturbance. Over two hundred natives were tried 
for conspiracy, more than one hundred of whom were 
condemned to death, and whose sentences were alone 
commuted owing to the joint protests of the islanders 
and the resident Europeans. At Edi, on the west 
coast, however, a concerted attack on the garrison re¬ 
sulted in the defeat of the Dutch troops. At Kot- 
tapohama, in May, the government forces sustained a 
severe reverse, retiring with a loss of over one hundred 
killed and wounded, while the mysterious and incura¬ 
ble berri-berri disease* continued to carry off the 
soldiers from the Netherlands and other Europeans by 
hundreds. “In Acheen the subjugation of the war 
seemed no nearer, the policy of conciliation being 
mistaken for weakness.” 

On October 29, the king’s malady having again de¬ 
veloped, he was declared, by an almost unanimous 
vote of the House, as incapable of administering the 
affairs of state. Queen Emma was again selected as 
regent, and on November 20th, she took the oath of 
office to act during the term of her husband’s incapac¬ 
ity. The period was of short duration, for on the 23rd 
the king, unable to longer withstand the complicated 
nature of his disorder, died, and on the 24th a procla¬ 
mation was issued by the regent announcing the as¬ 
cension of Queen Wilhelmina Helena Pauline. An¬ 
other oath was now taken by Queen Emma upon the 
constitution and with solemn ceremonial, that she 

* A commission was appointed to inquire into the nature of this malady 
which was endemic and apparently incurable. It manifested itself in a 
swelling- of the legs, accompanied by complete lameness, with intense 
suffering and ultimate death. 


42 


658 


History of the Netherlands, 


would accept the responsibilities involving upon her, 
as regent during her little daughter’s minority. As 
the people had long since forgotten, owing to her 
own winning personality, that she was the German 
princess of Waldeck and Pyrmont, or that she was 
not one of themselves, her instalment as provisional 
sovereign of the Netherlands, was hailed with genuine 
satisfaction. Duke Adolphus of Nassau was again 
appointed Regent of Luxemburg. 

The long outstanding dispute between France and 
the Netherlands, over the true delimitation of the 
frontier of Surinam (Dutch Guiana), was, owing to 
the discovery of valuable auriferous deposits in the ter¬ 
ritory tributary to the Lawa river, brought to an issue 
in May, 1891. The debatable land flanked the banks 
of the Lawa, and the question to be determined was 
whether the Lawa or the Tapanahoni river constituted 
the boundary. The Emperor of Russia, when first ap¬ 
pealed to, declined to act as arbitrator so long as the 
French government refused to withdraw all restrictions 
regarding the scope of the award, and the troops of 
both countries patrolled the hot banks of the Lawa, 
pending a settlement of the controversy. The French 
government having agreed to surrender the question 
of the scope of award, fully satisfied that the decision 
would be in their favor, the arbitrament of the Czar was 
again sought. To the great confusion of the represen¬ 
tatives of France the arbitrator confirmed the claims of 
the Netherlands in toto^ and the vexed line of demarka- 
tion.was established by the litoral of the Lawa river.* 

♦The colony of Surinam, or Dutch Guiana, in South America, embraces 
forty-six thousand and seventy-two square miles, and contains about fifty- 
seven thousand inhabitants. 


Revision of Taxation. 


659 


The resignation of the cabinet was once more forced 
by the severity of public criticism. Unfulfilled 
pledges was again the chief cry of the malcontents. 
The general election which followed resulted in the 
formation of an entirely new cabinet under Dr. van 
Tienhoven, the popular burgomaster of Amsterdam, 
but the former platform, of sweeping reform and 
complete re-organization of the army,* was sensibly 
modified. Chief among the measures promised was 
the further extension of the suffrage, the execution 
of the primary election law, the stricter observance 
of the Sabbath, and the substantial reduction of 
the accumulated deficit. In the session of the states- 
general that followed, a law providing for a more 
equitable system of taxation, and based on modern 
requirements, was introduced, a measure which, 
though during the past forty years had been sub¬ 
mitted nine times to various legislatures, had never 
succeeded in being embodied in the statutes. It was 
estimated that a revenue of eleven million six hun¬ 
dred thousand guilders could be raised by direct per¬ 
sonal taxation. The new military law made active 
service equally imperative for all, and was nearly 


♦The war-footing of the army, in 1S94, consisted of two thousand six 
hundred and eighty-eight officers, and fifty thousand nine hundred and 
sixty-six men, with a militia (SchutteryJ numbering about forty-three 
thousand seven hundred and sixteen additional. The royal navy consisted 
of one hundred and twenty-one men-of-war, twenty-one of them being 
ironclads. The colonial army consists of one thousand three hundred and 
eighty-four officers, and thirty-three thousand three hundred and thirty men, 
with a reserve of three hundred and ninty-three officers and men one half 
of whom are Europeans. 


66 o 


History of the Netherlands. 


universal in its application. The new measure of re¬ 
form contemplated, was the abolishment of substitu¬ 
tional service, and making military service obligatory 
in the standing army as well as in the militia and the 
Landsturm. The qualification of voters was made 
dependent on the ability to read or write, visible man¬ 
ual proof of the voters’ ability to do so being abso¬ 
lutely necessary. Out of about one million voters 
over twenty per cent, were disqualified in consequence 
of the introduction of the new law. This amendment 
to the law governing the suffrages of the people was 
strenuously and uncompromisingly opposed by the 
liberals, who looked with alarm on the probable polit¬ 
ical conditions which they professed to believe would 
follow. They insisted that the social democrats— 
whom they feared—would become dangerously pow 
erful in the Chamber, and would finally secure the 
same franchise for the communal electors, and ulti¬ 
mately change taxation and expenditure so that the 
“resources of those who had, would be diverted for 
the benefit of those who had not.” But opposition to 
the change in the electoral law was not confined to the 
ranks of the liberals, for a section of the Socialists 
condemned the measure also, but upon the ground that 
it was not far-reaching enough, while the ministry was 
implored not to make a government question of the 
bill, for in event of a dissolution the two great parties 
would be thrown into a state of disastrous confusion. 

This division of opinion, however, had no relation to 
old party lines. The liberals and conservatives were 
similarly split up into factions ; the radicals alone 
were solid in its support. The aim of Tak-van-Port- 


Waterways and Trade. 


661 

vliet, who was the father of the bill, was “ to make 
suffrage as nearly universal as the law allowed.” 
Among the catholic clericals, as well as among the 
anti-revolutionaries, or protestants, opinion was al¬ 
most balanced, many on either side being as hostile to 
the measure, as others were strong in its approval. 

While the burning question of party expediency 
was agitating the minds of professional politicians, a 
diversion was created by the opening of the new Mer- 
wede Canal, which was designed to connect Amster¬ 
dam with the Rhenish provinces, giving a free route 
by Vreswijk to the Upper Waal, and placing Amster¬ 
dam on an equal inland water footing with Rotter¬ 
dam, which has a free highway to Germany by way 
of Dordrecht."^ 

While the trade of the country continued to expand, 
the annual government expenditures exceeded the or¬ 
dinary revenues by ten million guilders. As author¬ 
ity was vested in the government to emit treasury 
bills to the extent of eighteen million guilders an¬ 
nually, to meet any periodical deficit, there was but 
little check upon the inclinations of the government 
of the day, if tempted, to exceed the appropriations au¬ 
thorized by the legislature. By the addition of these 
regularly recurring deficits, the public debt, which in 
1883 had amounted to about nine hundred and ninety 

* The Merwede Canal had a total length of forty-four miles. The total 
mileage of the canals of Holland, according to the latest returns, is placed 
at one million nine hundred and seven thousand one hundred and seventy 
miles, besides three thousand miles of other navigable waters, the entire 
country being a net-work of water-courses. In 1894 Holland’s mercantile 
marine consisted of one hundred and fifty-four steamers, with a joint ton- 
age of four hundred and ninety-nine thousand tons, and four hundred and 
forty-two sailing vessels, with three hundred and thirty-five thousand ton¬ 
nage, employing seventeen thousand men. 


662 History of the Netherlands. 

million, had reached in 1893 a total of over one thou¬ 
sand and ninety-four million guilders, exclusive of an 
increase in the paper money liability of nearly five mil¬ 
lion additional. The population during the same de¬ 
cade had increased by five hundred and sixty thousand. 
With the increase of the national debt and of the pop¬ 
ulation, the taste for foreign products and manufactures 
was cultivated to an almost disproportionate extent, 
for whereas the value of the imports in 1883 amounted 
only to a little over one-third of the home exports, the 
imports of 1893 exceeded in value the exports for the 
same year by about one-fifth. The value of the im¬ 
ports from the United States alone, in the brief space 
of two years, had risen from ninety-eight million four 
hundred thousand guilders in 1890 to one hundred and 
forty-nine million in 1892."^ 

The Netherlands had wrung their original father- 
land out of the grasp of the ocean. They had con¬ 
fronted for centuries the wrath of that ancient tyrant, 
ever ready to seize the prey of which he had been de¬ 
frauded. It was inevitable that a race thus invigor¬ 
ated by the ocean, cradled to freedom by their con¬ 
flicts with its power, and hardened almost to its in¬ 
vincibility by their struggle against human despotism, 
should be foremost among the nations in the develop¬ 
ment of political, religious and commercial freedom, j* 

"''The total trade of the Netherlands for the years 1883 and 1S93 respect¬ 
ively was—in guilders—as follows; 


EXPORTS. IMPORTS. 

1883.1,072,470,000 684,409,000 

1893.1,163,125,000 1,467,395,825 


A guilder is equal to forty cents United States money, 
•j-Motley. 




The Netherlands of To-Day. 


663 


The Netherlands have advanced so far in religious 
and political liberty that they are not likely to go per¬ 
manently backward. Too small to protect themselves 
against the great military powers about them, their 
safety depends on their importance in the balancing 
system of Europe. By their services to art, literature, 
and liberty, they have gained a hold on human interest 
and affection which no merely material prosperity 
could secure. After their long agony of internal con¬ 
flict and foreign domination, Holland and Belgium, in 
wise disunion, repose under the shelter of constitu¬ 
tional monarchy,—a government more republican in 
spirit, though not in form, than any in their whole his¬ 
tory. The different means by which the two branches 
of the Netherland people have reached this position 
afford an interesting study in the laws of historical 
development. 

Less prosperous than the Belgians when the war 
with Spain began, the superior vigor of the Dutch as 
a race, their Calvinistic zeal, and their geographical 
position, gave them an advantage over their neighbors. 
By trading with the enemy, plundering their rich East 
Indian and South American colonies, and fostering 
their own, they gained the first place among maritime 
nations. Their material successes stimulated intellec¬ 
tual progress, and thus the Dutch welcomed learned 
foreigners to their shores and became leaders in scholar¬ 
ship. At about the time that Piet Heyn was captur¬ 
ing the Spanish silver fleet, and while Tromp and De 
Ruyter were fighting their way to fame, Descartes 
was philosophizing in Amsterdam, Grotius was found¬ 
ing the science of International Law, and GoliuSj, the 


664 History of the Netherlands. 

eminent Orientalist and successor of Erpenius at 
Leyden, was enriching that renowned university, which 
had numbered among its professors Scaliger, Lipsius, 
and Heinsius, with a remarkable collection of Arabic 
manuscripts that he had secured during his four years’ 
travels in the East. Europe was astonished at the 
varied triumphs of the hardy republic. But the nation 
was too small and too disorganized by internal dissen¬ 
sions for permanent political supremacy. England, 
which had absorbed the industries of the unfortunate 
Spanish Netherlands, outstripped the commercial suc¬ 
cess of the United Provinces, which, weakened by 
naval wars, were exhausted by the long contest with 
France. This, with the stadtholder’s ambition and 
troubles with the states, drew the country into the 
control of the English government, whose exactions 
completed its decline. 

Another source of the national decay was the Dutch 
colonial system, which carried to extremes the restric¬ 
tive policy of the seventeenth century. Corporate 
monopolies stunted commercial as well as political 
development. It was by arbitrardy restricting pro¬ 
duction and trade that the enormous profits of the 
East India Company were obtained. Thus the people 
were loaded with taxes, and after the war with Eng¬ 
land in 1781, which crippled the Dutch colonies, the 
great corporation became a prey to corruption and was 
smothered in debt. 

The Belgian provinces owed their long subjection to 
foreign rule to the severance of their union with the 
Dutch, whose commercial jealousy increased the dis¬ 
trust produced by differences in language, in manners. 


The University of Louvain. 665 

and, above all, in religion. The incurious and station¬ 
ary Walloon was no mate for the sturdy and enter¬ 
prising Hollander. The reactionary tendencies of the 
obedient provinces were stimulated by their chief lit¬ 
erary institution. The University of Louvain en¬ 
couraged the burning of Luther’s writings in that place, 
and the first edict of Charles V. against heresy embodied 
the views of its theological faculty. It was a profes¬ 
sor of law at Louvain, Dr. Elbertus Leoninus, whom 
Requesen’s and Don John of Austria employed to 
tempt William of Orange to submission to Spain ; and 
it was from the university press, under the license 
of William Esthius, doctor of divinity, that the glori¬ 
fication of the prince’s assassin was issued. The uni¬ 
versity rejected Erasmus, Bilsius, and other eminent 
Dutch scholars, and refused to admit distinguished 
German, Danish, and English students who did not 
profess the Catholic religion. 

Van Helmont, the celebrated chemist, the most 
brilliant student that the university ever had, was per¬ 
secuted as a sorcerer by the government of the Arch¬ 
duchess Isabella. The memorable Decree of Toleration, 
proclaimed by Joseph II. in 1781, which Pope Pius 
VI. was lead to overlook if not to justify, met with 
intolerant opposition from this renowned seat of learn¬ 
ing. The influence of Louvain helped to deprive 
Belgium of the literary and philosophical activity 
which animated France during the eighteenth century, 
and the university was overthrown by the revolution¬ 
ary fury which that movement excited. Among the 
professors who made Louvain famous, were such noted 
champions of the Catholic faith as Pope Adrian VI., 


666 History of the Netherlands. 

Baius, Jansenius, and Bellarmin ; and the university 
gave an honorary professorship to the eminent anato¬ 
mist, Vesalius, before he assumed a chair at Padua. 
Sw^ept away by the French government in 1797, the 
University of Louvain was restored by the Dutch 
authorities in 1817 ; abolished by the Belgian govern¬ 
ment in 1834, it was revived by the bishops in 1835, 
and became the only Catholic university in the country, 
and one of the bulwarks of the Conservative party. 
Founded in 1426, this venerable seat of learning, 
which, though shorn of its ancient glories, has a his¬ 
toric interest in striking contrast to that of Leyden, 
which dates back to 1574. 

Yet the Belgians had one notable characteristic 
which saved them from the fate of other conquered 
peoples. They preserved the local independence guar¬ 
anteed by their ancient charters of freedom which 
antedated those of their neighbors. It was these long- 
cherished privileges—individual liberty, inviolability 
of domicile, independence of the magistracy, restric¬ 
tion of the right of taxation to the states-general, etc.— 
that kept alive the national spirit which enabled them 
to throw off the Austrian yoke. 

The French Revolution, that blinding storm of ret¬ 
ribution for ages of crowned oppression, and the 
avenging ambition of Napoleon, sowed the seeds of 
Belgian freedom. Beneath the enforced union with 
France lurked a feeling of discontent which Europe in 
arms roused to resistance. And though release from 
French domination was followed by a consolidation 
of the Netherlands, this artificial bond could not con¬ 
trol natural causes. It was shattered by the political 


Progress in Science and Art. 667 

individualism which is the title-deed of Dutch and 
Belgians to distinctive independence. 

In their devotion to the arts and industries of peace, 
the Netherlands have long set an example to the 
world, as needful as the mighty struggle for freedom 
which is identified with their progress and with the 
advancement of humanity. 

It was a Zeelander, Zacharias Jansen of Middelburg, 
who placed the two instruments—the telescope and 
microscope—in the hand of Galileo, by which the 
movements of the universe were traced, and enabled 
the student to study the hitherto hidden minuteness of 
life by which we are surrounded. Cornelius Drebbel 
is supposed to have invented the thermometer and 
barometer. ^Willebrod Suellius is credited with intro¬ 
ducing the system of measuring the degrees of latitude 
and longitude, and previous to the discovery of Des¬ 
cartes, had invented—it is so asserted by Huygens— 
the doctrine of refraction. 

In the early days of the republic, Holland and es¬ 
pecially Amsterdam and Rotterdam,held, says Rogers, 
the printing presses of Europe. The Elzevirs were 
the first publishers of cheap editions. From Holland 
came the first optical instruments, the best mathema¬ 
ticians, the most intelligent philosophers, as well as the 
boldest and most original thinkers. Holland is the 
origin of scientific medicine and national therapeutics. 
From Holland came the new agriculture, and not 
satisfied with exploiting the possibilities of mother 
earth, the Dutch taught modern Europe the science of 
navigation. It was especially—writes Motley—to the 

* Motley. 


668 History of the Netherlands. 

noble band of heroes, the great navigators and geo¬ 
graphical discoverers of the republic, that science is 
above all others indebted. Nothing is more sublime 
in human story than the endurance and audacity with 
which those pioneers of the sixteenth and seventeenth 
century confronted the nameless horrors of either pole, 
in the interests of commerce, and for the direct purpose 
of enlarging the bounds of the human intellect. 

The story of this heroic people—to again borrow 
from an authority previously quoted* — is entirely 
worthy of study, and is more romantic and more in¬ 
structive than that of the famous stand which Greece 
made against Persia so many centuries ago. The debt 
which civilization and liberty owe to these is greater 
than that which is due to any other race. Towards the 
end of the eighteenth century Holland was assailed by 
jealous rivals, but after sixty years of humiliation the 
Dutch reasserted themselves, and though a small peo¬ 
ple hemmed in by large military governments they 
hold a considerable place among nations. Fortunately, 
disabled from wasting their substance on militarism, 
they are far from being an effete nation, for in no de¬ 
partment of enterprise, of commercial integrity or of 
intellectual vigor—as the preceding pages demon¬ 
strate—is the Dutchman of to-day behind any Euro¬ 
pean nation, or even the race which achieved so 
remarkable a position in the seventeenth or the 
first half of the eighteenth century. The Dutch are 
the real founders of what people call international 
law, or the rights of nations. They have made mis¬ 
takes, but fewer than their neighbors made. The 


Rogers, 


Addenda. 669 

benefits they conferred were incomparably greater 
than the errors they committed. 

Although Alva and the Inquisition still figure 
in their picturesque life, it is as features in a historic 
celebration, or as haunting spectres of the past, in¬ 
stead of in the grim reality of persecution and carnage. 
The lesson of Netherland history is one of kindly 
judgment for men who, in a spirit of honesty and pa¬ 
triotism, uphold institutions which, however harmful, 
are inseparable from their age, as well as of admira¬ 
tion for the heroes and martyrs by whose sacrifices 
future ages are redeemed. Adverse circumstances or 
conditions may retard or impair national development, 
but they deepen public interest in the fortunes of a 
people whose struggles and sacrifices have smoothed 
the path of human progress. 


ADDENDA. 

For convenience, the word Protestant is used to describe the 
early religious “ Reformers ” in the Netherlands, most of whom 
were Calvinists, although the term was originally applied to 
the reformers of North Germany, adherents to Luther, who in 
the year 1^2^^ protested against the decree of the Imperial Diet 
held at Spires. 

The reference to the size of Ghent, p. 43, is not to its popula¬ 
tion, but to its territorial extent, which was illustrated by the 
pun of Charles V., that he could put Paris into his Gant (glove). 

The following authorities, “ Memoires de Frederic Perrenot,” 
cited p. 222, “ Memoires sur les Troubles de Gand,” and “ Mem¬ 
oires Anonymes sur les Troubles des Pays-Bas,” cited pp. 243, 
244, are publications of La Societe d’Histoire de Belgique. 

Belgium’s losses of territory mentioned p. 620, may be referred 



Cyo Addenda, 

to the treaties of the Pyrenees (1659) ; Aix-la-Chapelle (1668); 
and Nimeguen (1678). By the treaty of Utrecht Flanders 
passed almost intact to Germany, though France afterward 
added to its possessions in this province by conquest, and the 
Dutch also secured a portion of it before the union of Belgium 
and the United Provinces in 1815. 

The king of Prussia referred to, p. 632, is not Frederick II., 
but Frederick William II. 

It is the king of Belgium, not the government, that has di¬ 
rected the work of African exploration mentioned p. 644. 

Recent Parliamentary elections in Belgium in favor of the 
Clerical party, show a marked reaction from the liberal tenden¬ 
cies mentioned, p, 644. This result is largely due to Radical 
excesses. 

The Princess Wilhelmina, who is the King’s heir, cannot in¬ 
herit the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg, which is under the Salic 
law, barring the claims of females to the succession. These 
complications give plausibility to recent reports from the Hague, 
that Parliament might possibly consent to ultimately confer the 
title to the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg upon the hereditary 
prince of Nassau, eldest son of the present Duke, who was dis¬ 
possessed of his sovereignty in 1866, when his dominions were 
reunited to the German crown. The hereditary prince belongs 
to the elder or Walram branch of the House of Nassau, the late 
King of the Netherlands belonging to the Otho, or younger 
branch. 

But though the Ducal house of Nassau is in the line of suc¬ 
cession to the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg, no members of the 
German branch of the royal family are to be allowed a share in 
the guardianship of the child-Princess Wilhelmina. After the 
son, grandsons and daughters, of the Princess Sophia, other Ger¬ 
man members of the house of Nassau are in the line of succes¬ 
sion to the Dutch crown. 


Boston. 


INDEX. 


Abjuration, Act of, by states of 
Holland and Zealand, 258. 

Accord, signed by Duchess of Parma 
and Leaguers, 101. 

Addenda, 669, 670. 

Adrian VI., Pope, rebukes church 
abuses, 45. 

Aerschot, Philip de Croy, Duke of, 
jests with Alva, 129 ; seeks favor 
with both parties, 214; deserts 
Don John of Austria, 218; his in¬ 
trigues and arrest, 222 ; conditional 
release, 223; enters Antwerp with 
Parma, 349; death and character, 
422. 

Aerschot, Duke of, conspires against 
Archduchess Isabella, 564 ; arrested 
in Madrid, 570. 

Aerssens, Cornelius, Registrar of 
States-General, his attempted bribery 
by Spinola, 514. 

Aerssens, Francis, Dutch envoy in 
Paris, becomes Barneveld’s enemy, 
514 admitted to the nobility, 516; 
one of Barneveld’s judges, 520; de¬ 
signs treaty with France, 5 73 ; aids 
Frederick Henry, 576; mission to 
England, 577. 

Agneesens, a Belgian patriot, execu¬ 
tion of, 620. 

Aix-la-Chapelle, treaty of, 625. 

Alberoni, Cardinal, his Belgian in¬ 
trigues for Philip V. of Spain, 620. 

Albert of Austria, Archduke, Governor 
of Spanish Netherlands, 423 ; ap¬ 
pearance and reception, 424; in 
pecuniary straits, 431; assumes 
sovereignty, 434; marriage, 447; 
defeated at Nieuport, 455, 457; 
besieges Ostend, 461-466, 471-483 ; 
furthers peace negotiations, 499 ; 
urges United Provinces to sub¬ 
mission, 541 ; death and character, 
542. 


I Alen^'on and Anjou, Duke of, French 
revolt, 184.; negotiates with Orange, 
188 ; seeks Netherland sovereignty, 
221 ; agrees to aid the provinces, 
232; retires toward France, 242; 
accepts sovereignty of Netherlands, 
254; Queen Elizabeth’s flirtation 
with, 262; installed at Antwerp 
263; appearance and character, 
264; in danger from assault on 
Orange, 276; complains of neglect 
of treaty, 285 ; receives new digni¬ 
ties, 286 ; plots against Netherland 
liberties, 288; attempts to seize 
Antwerp, 291 ; retreat, 293; in¬ 
trigues to regain authority, 294; 
retires to Paris, 297 ; death, 299. 

Alkmaar, siege of, 157; desperate 
defence, 158; a brave carpenter, 
161 ; flight of Spaniards, 161. 

Alliance, Triple, an ill-starred treaty, 
598 ; undue praise of, 598 (note). 

Alliances, Grand, of William III. 
against France, 611, 615. 

Alva, Duke of, aids plot against Prot¬ 
estants, 64 ; advises destruction of 
rebel nobles, 80 ; appearance and 
character, 109; arrives in Nether¬ 
lands, I to; establishes Council of 
Blood, 114 ; charges against Orange, 

119; sentences Egmont and Horn, 
123 ; military successes, 127, 128 ; 
erects statue of himself, 129; ex¬ 
hausting taxes, 130, 135; power 
weakening, 136; concessions, 139; 
invades Holland, 157; advises brib¬ 
ing English ministry, 161 ; leaves 
Nkherlands, 165 ; death and charac¬ 
ter, 166 ; destruction of his statue, 
219. 

Amster dam, held by the Spaniards, 149, 
188 ; recovered by the patriots, 
228 : Protestant intolerance in, 229; 
opposes Orange’s sovereignty, 284; 

671 





6/2 


Index^ 


blocks truce with Spain, 499 ; sup¬ 
ports stadtholder, 503 ; favors na¬ 
tional synod, 509; opposes treaty 
with France, 573; becomes a pest- 
house, 574 ; disloyal merchants of, 
576; assailed by stadtholder Wil¬ 
liam II., 585 ; distress in, during 
war with England, 588; nobly 
resists French invasion, 599 ; dreads 
ambition of William III., 607; 
moderates religious controversies, 
608; prevents aid to Belgians 
against France, 611 ; treats with 
United States of America, 628 ; 
resists Prussian invasion, 632; 
surrender, 635 ; occupied by the 
French, 636. 

Amsterdam, New, named New York, 
593 ; retaken by Dutch, 606. 

Anabaptists, excesses of, 45 ; pro¬ 
tected by Orange, 213, 229. 

Anastro, Caspar, plots Orange’s 
assassination, 277; leaves Nether¬ 
lands, 2 78 ; fails to obtain blood- 
money, 283. 

Anjou, Duke of. See Alen^on. 

Anna of Saxony, marries Orange, 72 : 
imprisoned as a lunatic, and di¬ 
vorced, 183. 

Anne of Austria, Regent of France, 
favors Dutch republic, 578; con¬ 
trols Charles II. of Spain, 611. 

Anne of England, Princess, governs 
United Provinces, 625. 

Anne of England, Queen, continues 
war with France, 619.* 

Antwerp, greatness of, 52 ; celebrates 
peace with France, 59 ; Granvelle’s 
attempt to rule, 71; Orange pre¬ 
serves peace at, 94 ; image-breaking 
riots in, 97, 98; surrenders to 
Spaniards, 107; Alva’s great cita¬ 
del, 119 j Spanish “Fury,” 192-195 ; 
failure of Don John’s attempt on, 
218 ; Orange’s reception, 219 ; An¬ 
jou’s installation, 263; Catholic 
worship restored, 265, Anjou’s 
assault on, repelled, 291, 293 ; men¬ 
aced by Parma, 329; besieged, 334 ; 
dykes and bridge, 335, 338; fire¬ 
ships, 340, 343; fight on the 

Cowenstein, 345 ; threatened with 
famine, 347; surrender, 348; de¬ 
cline, 349; saved by Dutch delays, 
487; peace negotiations, 499; 
Frederick Henry’s failure to cap¬ 
ture, 576, 581 ; navigation to, 

closed by treaty, 581 ; attempt to 


open passage to, 630; freedom of 
Scheldt secured, 637; English 
expedition against, 637; held and 
surrendered by Dutch, 641 ; recent 
monuments in, 644. 

Armada, “ Invincible,” shattered 
391 ; a second Spanish, destroyed, 
428. 

“ Armed Neutrality,” the, 627, 628. 

Armenteros, Secretary, Margaret of 
Parma’s favorite, 84. 

Arminians. See Remonstrants. 

Arminius, disputes with Gomarus, 
502, 503. 

Arragon, Admiral of. See Mendoza, 
Francis de. 

Arras, Bishop of. See Granvelle. 

Artevelde, Jacques van, “Brewer of 
Ghent,” 27 ; services and death, 28. 

Artevelde, Philip van, romantic career, 
31; death, 35. 

Augsburg, league of, 611. 

Austria. See Anne of, and Albert, 
Charles, Ernest, and Matthias, 
Archdukes, Don John of, Ferdi¬ 
nand, Maximilian, and Rudolph. 

Austria, House of, acquires Nether¬ 
lands, 40 ; league against, 501. 

Austrian Netherlands. See Nether¬ 
lands. 

Aytona, Marquis of, commands Span¬ 
ish army, 567; offers pardon to 
conspirators, 570. 


Bardez, William, a partisan of 
Orange, effects municipal revolu¬ 
tion in Amsterdam, 228. 

Barendz, William, maritime explora¬ 
tions, 447. 

Barneveld, John of, volunteers for 
relief of Haarlem, 155 ; Advocate of 
Holland, 351 ; mission to Queen 
Elizabeth, 352; personal appear¬ 
ance, 355 ; opposes Leicester, 370, 
381 ; Leicester’s schemes against, 
385; founds an aristocratic republic, 
386 (note); alleged threats, 395; 
directs expedition against Breda, 
403 ; second mission to England, 
433; insists on invasion of Flan¬ 
ders, 449; seeks aid from England 
and France, 477; artful intrigues, 
490 (note); favors peace with Spain, 
495 ; charged with treason, 499; 
opposes foreign influence in govern¬ 
ment, 500; leads Remonstrants, 
503; regains “cautionary towns” 



Index. 


673 


from England, 506; proposes 
“ Sharp Resolve,” 508 ; assaults on 
his character, 510; arrested, 514; 
trial, 520 ; execution and its cause, 
526-530; character, 531, 532. 

Barneveld, Maria of, widow of John, 
sufferings, 545 ; begs pardon for her 
son, 553. 

Baroccio, Sebastian, designs Parma’s 
bridge at Antwerp, 335. 

Batavia, Dutch colonial empire at, 582 ; 
founder of, 642. 

Batavians, ancient, 19, 20. 

Bavaria, Elector of. Governor of 
Spanish Netherlands, acknowledges 
Philip V., 616. 

Bavaria, Elector of, prevented from 
acquiring Austrian Netherlands, 630. 

Bax, Marcellus, gallantry at Turnhout, 
428. 

Bax, Paul, repels assault on Bergen- 
op-Zoom, 488. 

“ Beggars,” how organized, 90; 
watchword and dress, 93; “Wild,” 
assaults on priests, 120; “Of the 
Sea,” commissioned by Orange, 135 ; 
capture Brill, 1-36; advance to re¬ 
lieve Leyden, 171-174; The “New,” 
448 ; valor at Nieuport, 456. 

Belgas, ancient Belgians, 16. 

Belgium, religious persecution ended 
in, 431; passes to Charles VI. of 
Germany, 620; joined to United 
Provinces, 638; Independence of, 
641. 

Bentinck, afterward Earl of Portland, 
devoted to William III., 607. 

Bergen-op-Zoom, besieged by Parma, 
392; Du Terrail’s assaults on, 488; 
saved by Maurice of Nassau, 545. 

Berghen, Marquis, mission to Spain, 
93; probably poisoned, 114. 

Berlaymont, Baron, calls petitioners, 
“beggars,” 90; faithful to Don 
John of Austria, 218. 

Bishoprics, new, 68; condemned by 
nobles and clergy, loi (note). 

Bismarck, opposes ambitious designs 
of Napoleon III. on Luxemburg 
and Belgium, 643. 

Blake, A^iiral, battle with Tromp. 
586; destroys Dutch fishing vessels, 
587 ; defeats Tromp, 588. 

Bleiswyck, Grand Pensionary, deserts 
to the stadtholder, 632. 

Bois-le-Duc, Hohenlohe’s failure at, 
337 ; captured by Frederick Henry, 
560. 


Bonaparte, Louis, as king of Holland, 
637- 

Bonaparte, Napoleon, rules the Neth 
erlands, 637. 

Bonaparte (Napoleon HI.), thwarted 
by Prussia, 666. 

Bossu, Admiral, captured by Dutch, 
165. 

Bourbon, Charlotte of, marries Or¬ 
ange, 183; death, 281. 

Brabant, Province of, exempted from 
Inquisition, 86; Spanish mutineers 
in, ,191; Orange made Ruward of, 
221; Anjou becomes Duke of, 263 ; 
demands French sovereignty, 328 ; 
another mutiny in, 419; Prie’s tyr¬ 
anny in, 620; prosperity of, 626. 

Breda, failure of negotiations at, i So; 
daring capture of, 402 ; besieged by 
Spinola, 554; surrender, 559; Eng¬ 
land compelled to peace of, 597. 

Brill, captured by the “ beggars,” 136 ; 
pledged to Queen Elizabeth, 355; 
redeemed, 506; a bone of conten¬ 
tion, 508. 

Brussels, abdication of Charles V. at, 
47; meeting of patriot nobles, 89; 
execution of Egmont and Horn, 
124; “Union” of, 206; Don John 
sworn into office, 211; Orange wel¬ 
comed, 219; “New Union” of, 
223; Archduke Matthias greeted, 
225 ; Philip Egmont’s treason, 249 ; 
Protestant fanaticism, 257; isolated 
by Parma, 334; surrender, 339; 
dreadful persecution near, 431; 
states-general assembled at, 434; 
Albert and Isabella welcomed, 448 ; 
overawed by Spinola, 542; states- 
general convoked and dissolved at, 
567, 573; Cardinal Ferdinand’s re¬ 
ception, 574; tumults, 620; men¬ 
aced by Emperor Joseph IL, 631 ; 
Dutch invasion repulsed, 641; new 
Palace of Justice, 644. 

Buckhurst, Lord, mission to United 
Provinces, 378; favors a war policy, 
379; disgraced on return to Eng¬ 
land, 382. 

Buren, Count of. See Philip William 
of Orange. 

Burgundian rule, the, 35 ; influence of, 
39 -. 

Burleigh, Lord Treasurer, protests 
against Elizabeth’s policy, 232; op¬ 
posed to her marrying Anjou, 262 ; 
effect of his death, 433. 

Buys, Paul, ex-Advocate of Holland, 



674 


Index. 


imprisonment attributed to Leicester, 
370 - 

Buzanval, French ambassador, expects 
collapse of Dutch republic, 478 
(note); assists at peace negotiations, 
497 - 


C^SAR, Julius, conquers the Nether¬ 
lands, 19. 

Calvinists, violence of, loi (note); 
hostile to Lutherans in Antwerp, 
107; outrages in Ghent, 243, 248 
(note); regarded by Queen Elizabeth 
as rebels, 327; aid defence of Ant- 
werp, 336; plot seizure of Leyden, 
385 ; demand expulsion of Catholics, 
391; clergy favor war, 495; dis¬ 
sensions among, 501 ; good and bad 
work, 502 ; opposed to Barneveld, 
521; hamper Richelieu’s policy, 554; 
oppose Catholic worship, 573. 

Carleton, Sir Dudley, English ambas¬ 
sador, sides with Contra-Remon¬ 
strants, 505 ; his views of Maurice 
and Barneveld, 509 (note); antici¬ 
pates Barneveld’s conviction, 514; 
refuses to aid him. 523 ; reports Bar¬ 
neveld’s fatal mistake, 532 (note). 

Caron, Noel de, Dutch envoy in Eng¬ 
land, recognized as ambassador, 
484 ; Barneveld’s letters to, 510. 

Casimir, Duke, sent by Queen Eliza¬ 
beth to Netherlands, 229; incites 
outrages in Ghent, 242; retires to 
England, 244 ; distress of his troops, 
245. 

Casimir, Ernest, of Nassau, Stadt- 
holder, bravery at Nieuport, 450, 
456 ; killed at Ruremoride, 567. 

Casimir, Henry, of Nassau-Dietz, 
Stadtholder, son of the preceding, 
567. 

Cateau Cambresis, treaty of, 59. 

Catholics, prominent, oppose Inqui¬ 
sition, 78; alienated by Calvinist 
excesses, 101 (note) ; outrages 
against, in Ghent, 243, 248 (note); 
increase of, unfavorable to Nether- 
land union, 247 ; opposition to, in 
Holland, 391, 421 ; as a privileged 
class, 432 (note). 

Cats, Jacob, Grand Pensionary, 569; 
popularity as a poet, 582; ambassa¬ 
dor to England, 586. 

Cecil, Robert, satirizes Spanish mar¬ 
riage project, 505, 506. 

Cervantes, at battle of Lepanto, 201. 


Champagny, mission to Queen Eliza¬ 
beth, 184; governor of Antwerp, 
191; gallantry during “ Spanish 
Fury,” 192; wrongfully imprisoned, 
234 ; plots to betray Flanders, 297 ; 
made governor of Antwerp by 
Parma, and removed, 352. 

Charlemagne, unites Netherlands, 25. 

Charles, Archduke, regains Belgium 
for. Austria, 636. 

Charles the Bold, tyranny over Neth¬ 
erlands, 36. 

Charles I., of England, continues al¬ 
liance with states, 559 ; his daughter 
marries stadtholder’s son, 577 ; cause 
opposed by Dutch people, 578 ; they 
are repelled by his execution, 585. 

Charles II., of England, makes war 
on Dutch, 593 ; agrees to aid France 
against them, 598. 

Charles II., of Spain, his ignorance 
and superstition, 611 ; death and 
its consequences, 615. 

Charles V., Emperor, subjects Neth¬ 
erlands to Spain, 40; humiliates 
Ghent, 43 ; persecutes heretics, 45 ; 
character, 46; abdication, 47 ; en¬ 
deared to Netherlanders, 51. 

Charles VL, of Germany, Emper¬ 
or, acquires Austrian Netherlands, 
620. 

Charles IX., of France, aided by Alva, 
119; Orange’s plans thwarted by 
treachery of, 140; agrees to assist 
the prince, 162. 

Charters of freedom, early, in Nether¬ 
lands, 25; “Groot Privelegie,” 
founded in Holland, 39 ; abandoned, 
40; “ Handvest,” relied on against 
Spanish tyranny, 68; Brabant’s 
“Joyous Entrance,” 71, 86, 432, 
434, 630; Catholic religion favored 
by, 432 (note); preserve local in¬ 
dependence in belgium, 666. 

Chimay, Prince of, eldest son of Duke 
of Aerschot, plots to betray Flan¬ 
ders, 297; enters Antwerp with 
Parma, 349. 

Civilis, leads Netherland revolt against 
Rome, 19; struggles and disap¬ 
pearance, 20. 

Cleves and Juliers, duchies, struggle 
for possession of, 501. 

Cocceians, a religious party in Hol¬ 
land, 608. ■’ 

Coeworden, siege of, by Maurice of 
Nassau, 413; Spaniards baffled at, 
418. 




Index. 


675 


Coligny, Admiral, his destruction a 
blow to Orange, 140. 

Coligny, Louisa de, marries Orange, 
297; gives birth to Frederick 
Henry, 299; intercedes for Barne- 
veld’s life, 524. 

Cologne, Congress of, efforts for peace 
with Spain, 252; thwarted by 
Philip’s bigotry, 233. 

“Compromise,” of the Nobles, de¬ 
sign^ to resist Inquisition, 89; 
work of St. Aldegonde, 331. 

Conscience, Henri, the novelist, 
monument in Antwerp, 644. 

Coster, Lawrence, alleged inventor of 
printing, 35. 

Council of Blood, established by 
Alva, 114; cruelties, 116; trial of 
Egmont and Horn, 120; abolition 
advised by Requesens, 176; de¬ 
stroyed, 191. 

Council of State, Spanish, in Nether¬ 
lands, 55 ; leaders of, under Regent 
Margaret, 60, 67 ; oppose Philip’s 
arbitrary policy, 79; Orange, and 
Egmont and Horn retire from, 80; 
resume places in, 83; debate on 
petition of nobles, 90 ; assume gov¬ 
ernment on death of Requesens, 
188 ; suspected members of, impris¬ 
oned, 191 ; favor Pacification of ! 
Ghent, 206 ; Of the Walloon Prov- i 
inces, composed of natives, 247 ; Of j 
Holland and Zealand, powers of, j 
285 ; Of the United Provinces, give I 
warning to Leicester, 374; assume ‘ 
supreme authority, 379; military j 
control, 407; new elements pro¬ 
posed for, 500; sustain Maurice of 
Nassau’s policy, 508; weakened 
power, 576. 

Crecy, Count Louis of, driven from 
Flanders by Artevelde, 28. 

Cromwell, Oliver, secures exclusion of 
House of Orange, 592. 

Crusades, promote Netherland free¬ 
dom, 25. 

Cueva, Cardinal de la, chief counsellor , 
of Isabella, 559; compelled to leave 
Netherlands, 567. 

D’Assonleville, Parma’s councillor, 
abets Orange’s assassination, 302 ; 
charged with other murderous 
schemes, 420. 

Dathenus, renegade monk, incites ^ 
outrages against Catholics in Ghent, , 
243- 1 


Davison, William, English envoy to 
United Provinces, enters Brussels 
with Orange, 220 ; urges conciliation 
in Ghent, 243. 

Delft, national assembly, support 
Orange, 256; executive council 
formed, 257; Orange retires to, 
after ill treatment in Antwerp, 299 ; 
place of his assassination, 310 ; 
blocks truce with Spain, 499; hon¬ 
ors to Grotius, 541. 

De Ruyter, Admiral, vanquishes Sir 
George Ayscue, 587 ; complains of 
government’s inefficiency, 588; Or¬ 
ange opposition, 593; battle with 
Monk, 594; invades England, 597; 
breasts English and French fleets 
at Solebay, 599; closing tri¬ 
umphs, 606; death and character, 
607. 

De Ruyter, Herman, seizes Castle of 
Louvestein, 133; death, 134. 

Descartes, residence in Holland, 608. 

Deventer, city of. Sir William Stanley, 
appointed governor, 372 ; betrayed 
to Spaniards, 374; captured by 
Maurice of Nassau, 408, 411. 

De With, Vice-Admiral, released from 
stadtholder’s clutches by Holland, 
585 ; defeated by Blake, 588; killed 
in battle with Swedes, 593 

De Witt, Cornelius convicted of 
attempting life of the Prince of 
Orange, 599; imprisonment, 600; 
destroyed by a mob, 603. 

De Witt, John, Grand Pensionary 
favors peace with England, 587; 
opposes Orange intrigues, 588 ; ex¬ 
cludes House of Orange from power, 
592; effects French alliance, 593; 
educates William III., 594; compels 
England to peace, 597; secures 
Triple Alliance, 598 ; popular ex¬ 
citement against, 599 ; destroyed by 
mob, 603 ; character, 603, 604. 

Doreslaar, Isaac, English ambassador, 
assassinated at the Hague, 585. 

Dort, First synod of, favors religious 
toleration, 234 : Great synod of, how 
j constituted, 516; condemns the Re- 
i monstrants, 519. 

i Drake, Sir Francis, his successes 
alarm Parma, 357; visits Nether¬ 
lands, 382; e.xpedition against 
Spain, 399. 

Du Maurier, Aubery, French ambas¬ 
sador, asks mercy for Barneveld, 

523, 524- 




6/6 


Index. 


Du Maurier, Louis, son of the preced¬ 
ing, misrepresents Maurice of Nas¬ 
sau, 529 (note). 

Ditmouriez, General, leads French 
army into Belgium, 636. 

Dunkirk, pirates of, depredations, 449, 
458; cruelly punished, 487; Piet 
Heyn’s fatal encounter with, 560 ; 
Frederick Henry’s abortive expe¬ 
dition against, 563. 

Dutch, descendants of ancient Bata¬ 
vians, 20 ; revolt against Spain, 136; 
famous sieges suffered by, 146, 167 ; 
resolve to have a sovereign count, 
284 ; become an aristocratic republic, 
386 (note); defects of national 
constitution, 530, 598, 603; naval 
triumphs over Spain, 496, 559, 577 ; 
conflicts with English and French 
fleets, 587, 594, 597, 599, 606, 607, 
642 ; change in dealings with France, 
570, 585 ; evils of restrictive policy, 
decline of power, 624; commerce 
injured by England, 628 ; govern¬ 
ment inefficiency, 631 ; revolutionary 
infatuation, 636; forced to give up 
Belgium, 641; fresher spirit in litera¬ 
ture, 642; causes of growth, 663; 
reasons for decay, 664; title to in¬ 
dependence, 667. See United Prov¬ 
inces. 

Du Terrail, French engineer, assaults 
Bergen-op-Zoom and Sluys, 488. 

Dykvelt, his services to William III., 
611. 


East India Company, charter and 
capital, 469; captures Amboyna, 
487 ; exclusive claims, 488; favors 
war policy, 495 ; increase of power, 
563 ; decline, 664. 

East India Company, the Ostend, 
effects of Dutch jealousy, 623. 

Edict, Perpetual, treaty with Don 
John of Austria, Orange’s objections 
to, 206 ; confirmed by Philip 11 ., 207 ; 
dangers of, for Holland and Zealand, 
248 , Act excluding House of 
Orange from power, 592; repealed, 
599 ; a mob watchword, 603. 

Edicts of Charles V. against heresy, 
68, 438. 

Edward III. of England, relations 
with Jacques van Artevelde, 28. 

Egmont, Lamoral, Count, victories 
over the' French, 56, 59; opposes 
Granvelle, 79; mission to Spain, 


S4-86; drinks to the “ beggars,” 93 ; 
persecutes heretics, 102 ; blind loy¬ 
alty, 105, 108; effects of anxiety, 
110; imprisoned, 113; trial, 120; 
execution, 123. 

Egmont, Lamoral, son of preceding, 
false charges against, 287. 

Egmont, Louis, Count, conspires 

against Archduchess Isabella, 564. 

Egmont, Philip, Count, captured 

during Spanish “ Fury,” 195 ; at¬ 
tempts to seize Brussels, 249; en¬ 
ters Antwerp with Parma, 349; 
killed at battle of Ivry, 408. 

Elizabeth of England, troubles with 
Alva, 130 ; temporizing policy, 161 ; 
rejects state’s appeal for aid, 184 ; 
favors peace with Philip II., 187; 
intrigues for Don John of Austria, 
207; angry at interference of Mat¬ 
thias, 221 ; aids Netherlands, 224, 
229; breach of faith, 232 ; rebukes 
and pets Casimir, 244, 245 ; dallies 
with Anjou, 262; insists on his 
restoration, 294; affected grief at 
his death, 299; offers to adopt 
Orange’s daughters, 321 ; encourages 
rebellious Netherlanders, 328; fatal 
delay to relieve Antwerp, 352; re¬ 
fuses sovereignty of United Prov¬ 
inces, 355 ; wishes peace with Spain, 
356; troubles with provinces about 
Leicester, 378, 382; underhand 

policy, 3S5 ; seeks peace with Spain, 
387 ; ends Leicestrian rebellion, 388 ; 
congratulates Maurice of Nassau, 
412 ; checks outrages upon Dutch 
sea-captains, 414 ; plot to assassinate, 
420 ; new treaty with United Prov¬ 
inces, 433 ; death, 469; character, 
470, 471. 

England, emigration of Netherland 
artisans to, 90; people opposed to 
Spanish alliance, 162 ; Holland and 
Zealand appeal to, 184 ; Don John 
of Austria plans to invade, 211; 
protected against Spain by Orange, 
316; Utrecht favors allegiance to, 
387 ; invasion of, planned by Philip 
il., 388 ; his Armada''shattered, 391 ; 
refuses aid to Spain, 495 ; alliance 
with United Provinces, 498; guar¬ 
antees truce with Spain, 500; alli¬ 
ance with Spain, 545 ; causes of ill 
will toward Dutch, 577 ; fresh troub¬ 
les with them, -586 ; first war, 587- 
591 ; peace secured, 592 ; anew war, 
593 ; compelled to peace, 597 ; joins 







Index. 


677 


and breaks Triple Alliance, 59S; 
makes peace with States, 606 ; 
Stadtholder William III. secures 
sovereignty of, 611 ; war with France 
in Netherlands, 619; troubles with 
United Provinces, 626; war with 
them, 628 ; guarantees Belgian con¬ 
stitution, 631 ; guarantees hereditary 
stadtholderate, 635 ; abortive expe¬ 
dition against Antwerp, 637; block¬ 
ades Dutch ports, 641 ; sustains 
independence of Belgium, 643 ; com¬ 
pletes decline of Dutch republic, 
664. 

Ernest, of Austria, Archduke, arrives 
in Netherlands as governor, 419; 
his conciliatory policy, 420 ; trials 
and death, 421. 

Escovedo, Don John of Austria’s sec¬ 
retary, duped by Peres, 212 ; assas¬ 
sinated by order of Philip 11 ., 214, 
439 - 

Espinoy, Prince of, his daughter mar¬ 
ries* Baron Montigny, 89 ; patriotic 
devotion and wife’s bravery, 261 ; 
escorts Anjou to Antwerp, 263. 

Espinoy, Prince of, conspires against 
Archduchess Isabella, 564. 

Essex, Earl of, leads charge at battle 
of Zutphen, 365; commands land 
forces against Cadiz, 424, 427. 

restates, or states-general (see, also, 
United Provinces), power, 55 ; urge 
recall of foreign troops, 60 ; meeting 
forbidden by Philip II., 79; Alva’s 
demands on, 130, 139; Requesens’ 
disgu.st with, 187; Don John of 
Austria’s relations with, 206, 208, 
217, 218; still loyal to Philip II., 
219; opposed to Orange’s rule in 
Brabant, 221 ; reject Don John’s au¬ 
thority, 223, 233; treaty with . 41 en- 
gon, 233 ; fail to win back Walloon 
provinces, 246; offer sovereignty to 
Anjou, 254 ; and to Queen Elizabeth, 
352; assembled by Archduke Al¬ 
bert, 434 ; the archdukes’ neglect of, 
542; assembled by Isabella, 567; 
dissolved, 573. 

Evertsen, Admiral, in the three days’ 
battle, 588 ; takes New York, 606 ; 
bravery at Beachy Head, 612. 


Fagel, Caspar, Grand Pensionary, 
secures Holland’s support for Wil¬ 
liam III., 605. 

Fagel, Henry, Secretary of States- 

42 


General, subjects stadtholder, Wil¬ 
liam Y., to English influence, 626. 

Ferdinand of Austria, Cardinal, tri¬ 
umphal reception as governor of 
Spanish Netherlands, 574; death, 
578. 

Flanders, revolt of, under Arteveldes, 
27; subdued by Maximilian, 40; 
protests against Titelmann’s perse¬ 
cutions, 84; rewards Regent Mar¬ 
garet, ti 6 ; remonstrates against 
Egmont’s treatment, 120; outrages 
of Ryhove and Imbize, 222; 
.Orange’s welcome, 223 ; he accepts 
government of, 252 ; Anjou in¬ 
stalled as count of, 286 ; betrayal of 
to Spain defeated, 298 ; deputies of, 
demand French sovereignty, 328; 
invaded by Maurice of Nassau, 450; 
Frederick Henry’s invasion, 563 ; 
invaded by Louis XIV. 615 ; portion 
ceded to France, 620 (see Addenda); 
prosperity under Maria Theresa, 626. 

Fleece, Golden, Order of, founded by 
Philip the “ Good,” 35 ; Knights of, 
meet at Orange’s house, 79 ; remon¬ 
strate against Egmont’s treatment, 
120. 

Flushing, the “beggars” at, 136; a 
plot to capture, 300 ; held by Queen 
Elizabeth, 355 ; regained by Bar- 
neveld, 506. 

Fool’s-Cap Livery, 83. 

France, aids Count of Flanders 
against Artevelde, 31 ; war with 
Spain and Netherlands, 56; peace 
concluded, 59; Netherland sover¬ 
eignty offered to, 328 ; Parma’s 
campaign, 408; peace with Spain, 
433; hesitates to aid United Prov¬ 
inces, 478; appealed to by states, 
489; refuses aid to Spain, 495 ; 
alliance with United Provinces, 498 ; 
guarantees their truce with Spain, 
502; powerless to save Barneveld, 
523 ; alienated by his execution, 
545 ; aids United Provinces against 
Spain, 554 ; distrusted by them, 575 ; 
portion of Belgium ceded to, 620 
Osee Addenda); fear of, forces Dutch 
under English influence, 624; e.x- 
haustion of, leads to peace, 625; 
controls slates of Holland, 627 ; 
revolutionary, subdues NetherlandSf 
636; protects Belgium, 641. 

Francis 11 . of Germany, Emperor, 
Belgian revolt against, 636. 

Franeker, University of, 358. 




6/8 


Index. 


Frederic, Don, Alva’s son, lays siege 
to Mons, 139; cruelty at Zutphen, 
146; sacks Naarden, 149; besieges 
Haarlem, 150-156; retires from 
Alkmaar, 161. 

Frederick Henry, Stadtholder, Prince 
of Orange, at battle of Nieuport, 
452 ; mission to England, 477 ; nar¬ 
row escape from death, 487 ; sur¬ 
renders Rheinberg, 489; favors 
Grotius, 540; marriage, 558; allays 
religious bitterness, 559; victories, 
560, 563 ; captures Maestricht, 564 ; 
opposed by Grand Pensionary Pauw 
and states of Holland, 569 ; alliance 
with France, 573; besieges Breda, 
575; authority strengthened, 576; 
English matrimonial alliance, 577 ; 
death and character, 581 ; brightened 
fame, 608. 

Frederick II. of Prussia, “ the Great,” 
defeats transfer of Austrian Nether¬ 
lands, 630. 

Frederick William II. of Prussia, 
invades United Provinces, 632; 
greeted as a deliverer by states- 
general, 635. See Addenda. 

Friesland, lost to patriots by Van den 
Berg’s desertion, 148 ; Anjou made 
Lord of, 286 ; University of Franeker 
founded, 358 ; forced to pay war 
taxes, 575 ; why opposed to peace 
with Spain, 585 ; repels invasion of 
Bishop of Munster, 594; demands 
increase of navy, 626. 

Frisians, “ the free,” 22-25. 

Friso, John William, blighted pros¬ 
pects, 619: drowned, 623, 

Friso, William Charles Henry, See 
William IV. stadtholder. 

Fuentes, Count, reverses Parma’s 
policy, 416; becomes temporary 
governor-general, 421. 

Fuggel's, bankers, dealings with the 
states, 231. 

Fury,” the French, 291, 293. 

“Fury,” the Spanish, 192, 195. 

Gelderland, enters Union of 
Utrecht, 246; turbulence of, 253; 
sovereignty tendered to Anjou, 286 ; 
held % the nationalists, 412; 
states favor the synod, 510; com 
quered by Frederick Henry, 564; 
subdued by Louis XIV., 599; sov¬ 
ereignty offered to William III., 
607; power of municipalities, 619; 
supports stadtholder, 626. 


Gemblours, Don John’s victory, 226, 
227. 

Gerard, Balthazar, assassin of Orange, 
plan of operations, 301, 302; per¬ 
sistency, 305 ; movements at Delft, 
306; prepares for the assassination, 
309; the deed done, 310; capture 
and confession, 311 ; further con¬ 
fession, under torture, 312 ; cruelly 
executed, 313, 314; his fanaticism, 
315; family ennobled, 323. 

Gerard, Marshal, compels surrender of 
Antwerp, 641. 

Germany, see Maximilian, Rudolph, 
Joseph 11 ., and Leopold; acquires 
Netherlands, 25 ; opposes patriot 
cause, 128; temporizing policy, 130; 
continued apathy, 261, 327, 332; 
united by William III. against 
France, 611 ; opposition of Napo¬ 
leon HI. to, 643; Dutch fears of, 
666 . 

Gertruydenberg, surrender tp the 
Spaniards, 392; captured by Mau¬ 
rice of Nassau, 417. 

Ghent, city of, under the Arteveldes,, 
27, 31 ; humiliated by Charles V., 
43; congress at, 191 ; tumults un¬ 
der Ryhove and Imbize, 222; in 
decline, 242; burning of monks, 
243, 249 (note); saved by patriots, 
297 ; betrayed to Parma, 335 ; Paci¬ 
fication of, 195. 

Gianibelli, fireships at Antwerp bridge, 

340-345- 

Gibraltarj Heemskerk’s victory, 496. 

Gomarus, theological professor at Ley¬ 
den, opposed to Arminius, 502, 503 ; 
at the synod of Dort, 519. 

Gomez, Ruy, Prince of Eboli, influ¬ 
ence over Philip II., 55, 56; super¬ 
seded by Alva, 109 ; regains power, 
176.. 

Gosson, a Walloon patriot, execution, 
246. 

Gouda, city of, opposed to Orange’s 
sovereignty, 284 ; resists subjection 
to France, 328. 

Granvelle, Cardinal, his power, 67 ; 
opposition to, 71, 79 ; leaves Nether¬ 
lands, 83; suggests Madrid rule, 
107; laments Orange’s escape, 114; 
advises his assassination, 254 ; com¬ 
plains of the king’s devotion to 
details, 285 ; comfnends Orange’s as¬ 
sassination, 322; death and charac¬ 
ter, 361. 

Gravelines, Egmont’s victory, 59. 



Index. 


Gregory XIH., his bull in favor of 
Don John of Austria, 225. 

Grobbendonck, Baron, his banquet, 
80. 

Groeneveld, Barneveid’s eldest son, 
conspires against Maurice of Nas¬ 
sau, 546; arrest and execution, 553. 

Groll and Lochem, cities of, sieges. 
See Maurice df Nassau and Spi- 
nola. 

Groningen, City of, betrayed to 
Parma, 21^3; surrenders to Maurice 
of Nassau, 418; Province of, re¬ 
fuses to pay war taxes, 449 ; elects 
Frederick Henry stadtholder, 581; 
thwarts William III., 611. 

Grotius, his praise of St. Aldegonde, 
351; boyish tribute to Maurice of 
Nassau, 412; a leader of the Re¬ 
monstrants, 503; arrested, 514 ; less 
resolute than his wife, 533; public 
services, 534, 537; romantic escape 
from prison, 538, 539; services in 
exile, -540 ; death and honors. 541 

Guilds, of Artisans, and Artevelde, 
28 ; their narrowness, 39; influence, 
55 ; palaces, 192; Military, and Don 
J ohn of Austria, 208; Rhetoric, 
greet Orange, 220, 223; welcome 
Matthias, 225 ; reception to Arch¬ 
duke Ernest, 419 ; Butchers, imperil 
Antwerp, 333. 


Haarlem, Lake of, di-ained, 27 ,* City 
of, besieged, 150; desperate defence, 
150, i?4; horrors of famine, 155; 
surrender and massacre, 156. 

Hague, the, independence of Holland 
and Zealand declared at, 258; mas¬ 
sacre of the De Witts, 603. 

Haring, John, a heroic Dutch patriot, 
154, 165. 

Hasselaer, Kenau, widow, her bravery 
at Haarlem, 150. 

Haultain, Admiral, executes cruel or¬ 
ders of - states-general, 484, 487; 
neglect of duty, 494. 

Heemskerk, Jacob, his maritime ex¬ 
plorations, 447; East Indian tri¬ 
umphs, 469; victory at Gibraltar, 
and death, 496. 

Heenvliet, Frederick Henry’s agent in 
London, conciliatory efforts, 578. 

Heinsius, Anthony, Grand Pension¬ 
ary, carries on Dutch government 
without a stadth older, 619. 

Heinsius, Daniel, secretary of Synod 


679 

of Dort, 516; professor at Leyden, 
664. 

Held, Matthew, his self-sacrificing 
courage, 401; his reward, 403. 

Henrietta Maria, of England, intrigues 
in Holland, 578. 

Henry HI., of France, his aid asked 
on death of Orange, 321 ; declines 
Netherland sovereignty, 328. 

Henry IV., of France, aided by Dutch 
republic, 399; becomes a Catholic, 
418; aids the republic, 421 ; makes 
peace with Spain, 433; anxious to 
protect provinces, 478, 490, and 
notes; refuses aid to Spain, 495; 
influence over the republic, 500; 
assassinated, 501; tribute to Gro¬ 
tius, 534. 

Heraugiere, captor of Breda, 401, 402 ; 
attempts to corrupt him, 424. 

Heresy, assailed by Charles V., 45 ; 
edict against, re-enacted by Philip 
II., 68; the Inquisition, 75; people 
rescue victims, 78; woman buried 
alive for, 431; punishment of ended 
in Belgium, 431, 432 (note). 

Hessels, Blood-Councillor, his sleepi¬ 
ness, 115, imprisonment, 222; exe¬ 
cution, 243. 

Heyn, Peter, captures Spanish treas¬ 
ure-fleet, 559; death of, and honors 
to, 560. 

Hohenlohe, Philip. Count of, fails to 
relieve Maestricht, 251; his charac- 
ter, 333; repulse at Bois-le-Duc, 
337; assault on Cowenstein dyke, 
345 ; unwise visit to Antwerp, 346 ; 
Leicester’s affront to, 373; Queen 
Elizabeth’s scheme against, 379 ; 
marriage, 421 ; death, 494. 

Holland, granted to Count Dirk, 25; 
separated from Friesland and joined 
to Hainault, 27 ; Magna Charta, 39, 
and its relinquishment, 40; oppo¬ 
sition to Alva, 162 ; resistance to 
Philip II., 324; protected by 
Maurice of Nassau, 489; states 
pass “Sharp Resolve,” 508; op¬ 
posed to national synod, 510 ; over¬ 
awed by Maurice of Nassau, 515; 
truce party baffled, 570; opposed to 
war with England, 587; Orange 
riots in towns, 591 ; states exclude 
House of Orange from power, 592 ; 
act of exclusion repealed, 593; con¬ 
ditional consent to appointment of 
prince as captain-general, 599; sup¬ 
ports William III., 605; overrides 



68 o 


Index. 


national constitution, 623; official 
corruption in, 624; supports stadt- 
holder, 626; under French influ¬ 
ence, 627. 

Holland and Zealand, Union of, 180 ; 
offer sovereignty to England, 184; 
New Union of, 188; Protestantism 
recognized as creed of, 196 ; reject 
Perpetual Edict, 207 ; decline sover¬ 
eignty of Anjou, 254; declare inde¬ 
pendence under Orange, 258 ; with¬ 
draw opposition to French rule, 
328. 

Hoofd, Cornelius, opposes Maurice of 
Nassau, 515 ; his son, the historian, 
582. 

Hoogstraaten, Count, opposed to 
Granvelle, 83; sustains Egmont. 
85 ; death, 129. 

Hooks, an early political party, 27. 

Hopper, Joachim, a councillor of 
state, 85 ; stationary policy, 188. 

Horn, Count of, member of state 
council, 60; Granvelle’s enmity to, 
71 ; his warning to Philip II., 79; 
the king’s professed friendship for, 
83; drinks to the “beggars,” 93; 
trial, 120; execution, 124. 

Hoi'n, citizens of, oppose Maurice’s 
change of magistrates, 515 ; insur¬ 
rection at, 523 

Houtmann brothers, early Dutch navi¬ 
gators, 447. 

Houwening, Elsie van, secures escape 
of Grotius, 538, 539. • 

Hungary, Mary of, Regent of Nether¬ 
lands, 56. 

Huygens, Constantine, secretary of 
Frederick Henry and other stadt- 
holders, 576. 

Huygens, Christian, astronomer and 
geometer, 576. 


Image-breaking, riots at Antwerp, 
97; alienates Catholics and Luther¬ 
ans, loi (note); Egmont punishes, 
102 ; Orange’s penalty for, in Ghent, 
243 - 

Imbize, a reckless partisan of Orange, 
incites tumult in Ghent, 222 ; con¬ 
spires to betray Flanders, 297 ; exe¬ 
cuted, 298. 

India, Dutch navigators and triumphs 
in, 444. 447, 469, 487; difficulties 
with Portuguese, 487, 488; trouble 
with English, 488, 592. See East 
India Company. 


Inquisition, Spanish and Papal, 75, 76 ; 
opposition to, 78, 84, 86; abolished 
by Margaret of Parma, 101; fright¬ 
ful decree of, 120 ; abolished by the 
Pacification of Ghent, 196 ; estab¬ 
lished in Netherlands in thirteenth 
century, 438. 

Isabella, of Spain, Queen, sets Inqui¬ 
sition in motion, 76. 

Isabella, Archduchess, receives Neth¬ 
erlands as a bridal gift, 434; be¬ 
comes governor, 542; her counsel¬ 
lors, 559; pawns her jewels, 560; 
obliged, to assemble states-general, 
567 ; death and character, 567, 568. 


Jacobzoon, Admiral, “ Run-away- 
Jacob,” 335, 340. 

James I., of England, makes peace 
with Spain and the archduke’^, 484; 
assists Dutch peace negotiations, 
497; sides with Contra-Remon¬ 
strants, 503 •, gives back the 
“cautionary towns,” 505, 506; 

favors a national synod, 509; sup¬ 
ports Maurice against Barneveld, 
525; aids Dutch republic against 
Spain, 554. 

James IL, of England, end of reign, 
611; promise of Louis XIV. to, 616. 

Jaureguy, John, his attempt to assas¬ 
sinate Orange, and its results, 272- 
283. 

Jeannin, Pierre, represents France in 
peace negotiations, 497 ; appeals for 
religious toleration, 499; results of 
his diplomacy, 500. 

J emappes, battle of, 636. 

Jemmingen, Alva’-i-victory, 127. 

Jesuits, reinstated in Antwerp, 349; 
influence over Philip William of Or¬ 
ange, 424 ; a dreadful sacrifice, 431 ; 
suppressed in Austrian Netherlands, 
626. 

John of Austria, Don, enters Nether¬ 
lands in disguise, 197; victory at 
Lepanto, 198-201 ; appointed gov¬ 
ernor-general, 202; conciliatory pol¬ 
icy, 205, 208 ; greeted as a liberator, 
211 ; a victim of treachery, 212; 
forced to hostilities by Orange, 213- 
218; summons provinces to obedi¬ 
ence, 225; victory at Gemblours, 
226,' 227 ; defeat at Rymenant, 232 ; 
anxious to be recalled, 233; trials 
and death, 234, 235 ; character, 236, 

237- 



Index. 


681 


John of Nassau, Count, brother of 
Orange, opposes his third marriage, 
183; opposed to Catholic worship 
m Holland and Zealand, 234; ef¬ 
fects Union of Utrecht, 246; 
leaves Netherlands. 253; death, 
494 - 

Joseph II., Emperor, assails Dutch, 
630 ; tyrannizes over Belgians, 631 : 
Edict of Toleration 432 (note), 631. 

Junius, Adrian, the fairest of Bar- 
neveld’s judges, agrees to his death- 
sentence, 523. 

Junius, Francis, a bold Huguenot 
preacher, 89. 

Justine of Nassau, Admiral of Holland 
and Zealand, 339; assails Cowen- 
stein dyke, 345 ; blockades Parma’s 
transports, 391; mission to France 
and England, 433. 


Kabbeljaw, an early political party, 
27. 

Kant, Vice-Admiral, destroys Spinola’s 
galleys, 473. 

Kernes, wild Irish marauders, 372, 
374 - 

Klaaszoon, Vice-Admiral, his heroic 
self-sacrifice, 493, 494. 

Koen, Jan Pieterszoon, the founder of 
Batavia, 642. 


La Hogue, battle of, 612. 

La Noue, the “ Iron Armed,” his 
captivity, 253; vindicates St. Alde- 
gonde’s integrity, 350. 

Laurens, Henry, American envoy to 
United Provinces, his arrest, 627. 

Leicester, Earl of, protests against 
Queen Elizabeth’s artifice, 232; 
accompanies Anjou to Netherlands, 
262, 263; installed as Governor- 
general, 356; baffled by Parma, 
358; mismanagement at Zutphen, 
362, 366; intriguing policy, 369, 
370; visits England, 371 ; results 
of his imprudence, 372-379 ; return, 
380; opposed by states, 381-385 ; 
leaves Netherlands, 386; death, 

392- 

Leopold L, Emperor of Germany, 
claimant to Spanish succession, 615 ; 
Leopold IL, regains Austrian Neth¬ 
erlands, 631. 

Leopold I., of Belgium enthroned, 641; 
died much lamented, 643. 


Leopold II., of Belgium, the present 
king, 643. 

Lepanto, battle of, 197-201. 

Lerma, Duke of, controls Philip III., 
of Spain, 496. 

Leyden, City of, besieged, 167 ; dykes 
opened for relief of, 168; advance 
of patriot fleet to, 171 ; horrors of 
famine, 172 ; relieved, 174 ; magis¬ 
trates of, rebuke Protestant intoler¬ 
ance, 258 ; plot to seize, 385 ; in¬ 
surrection at, 523; literary and ar¬ 
tistic development, 626; University 
of, founded, 175; religious disputes 
at, 502 ; celebrity of, 625, 626. 

Liesveldt, Chancellor of Brabant, fa¬ 
vors submission to Spain, 328, 336 ; 
heads a mission to Maurice of Nas¬ 
sau, 422. 

Lillo and Liefkenshoek, forts, 334, 
344 > 345 ) 630 - 

Literature and Art, Belgian, 542, 644, 
663; Dutch, 576, 382, 642. 

London, merchants of, aid Netherland 
revolt, 162; merchant fleet, seized 
by Orange, 184 ; fleet released, 187 ; 
benefited by fall of Antwerp, 349; 
treaty of, 638. 

Lorraine, Charles of. Prince, his benef¬ 
icent rule in Austrian Netherlands, 
626. 

Louis of Nassau, supports the “Com¬ 
promise ’ ’ of the nobles, 89; his 
demands on the Regent Marga¬ 
ret, 94 ; confers with other nobles, 
105 ; victory of the “ Holy Lion,” 
122 ; defeated at Jemmingen, 127 ; 
captures Mons, 139; demands on 
Charles IX., of France, 162 ; de¬ 
feated and killed at Mook Heath, 
167. 

Louis Gunther of Nassau, at storm¬ 
ing of Cadiz, 427 ; commands pa¬ 
triot cavalry at Nieiiport, 455 (note), 
456. 

Louis XIH., of France, grants a pen¬ 
sion to Grotius, 539; aids the 
United Provinces, 554; his death, 
578. 

Louis XIV., of France, proposed 
Spanish marriage of, 585 ; De Witt’s 
alliance, 593; aids United Provin¬ 
ces, 594 ; invades Flanders, 597 ; 
breaks up Triple Alliance, 598; 
subdues three Dutch provinces, 599 : 
warfare of William III. with, 605 ; 
terms of peace accepted by states- 
gener^l, 608 ; new coalition against. 



682 


Index. . 


6ii; compelled to peace of Ryswick, 
612; intriguing policy, 616; forced 
to peace of Utrecht, 620. 

Louis XV,, of France, invades Dutch 
Flanders, 624. 

Louis XVL, of France, mediates 
between Dutch and Emperor Jo¬ 
seph II., 630. 

Louvain, City of, Don John of Aus¬ 
tria’s welcome, 208; besieged by 
French and Dutch, 574; University 
of, fostered by Philip the “Good,” 
36; indorses Pacification of Ghent, 
206; celebrity under Albert and 
Isabella, 542; aided by Maria 
Theresa, 626 ; reactionary influence, 
664, 665. 

Louvestein, Castle of, captured and re¬ 
captured, 134 ; Grotius and Hooger- 
beets confined in, 534 ; escape of 
Grotius from, 538 ; Remonstrant 
ministers escape from, 540 ; John 
de Witt’s father imprisoned in, 
587. 

Louvestein Party, opposed to the 
stadtholders, 534. 

Lutherans, alienated by image-break¬ 
ing, loi (note); opposed by Cal¬ 
vinists, 107, 327, 386 ; first martyrs 
in Netherlands, 501. 

Luxemburg, Province of, invaded by 
Henry IV. of France, 421 ; Grand- 
Duchy of, added to Kingdom of the 
Netherlands, 638 ; division of, ob¬ 
jected to by Dutch, 641 ; constituted 
a neutral state in the possession of 
the house of Orange-Nassau, 643; 
German claims to succession, 670 
(note). 

Luxemburg, Marshal, his physical 
weakness, 619 (note). 

Maestricht, resists patriots, 167; 
captured and recaptured, igi ; Par¬ 
ma’s siege, 249-252 ; surrenders to 
Frederick Henry, 564. 

Malcontents, discontented Walloons, 
242 ; refuse to lay down arms, 244. 

Malplaquet, Marlborough’s victory, 
619. 

Mansfeld, Peter Ernest, Count, 
favors E^mont, 85 ; fights on the 
Cowenstem dyke, 346; governs 
Netherlands in Parma’s absence, 
399, 416; challenges Maurice of 
Nassau, 417. 

Marck, Robert de la, Lord of Lumey, 
opposes Granvelle, 79. 


Marck, William de la, chief of “ Beg¬ 
gars of the Sea,” captures Brill, 
136; troubles with Orange, and 
death, 161. 

Maria Theresa, aided by United Prov¬ 
inces, 623 ; beneficent rule in Aus¬ 
trian Netherlands, 626, 627. 

Marlborough, Duke of, his campaigns, 
619. 

Mary of Burgundy, Duchess, her 
grants to the provinces, 36, 39; 
marriage and death, 40. 

Mataliefi^, Admiral, triumphs in In¬ 
dia, 498. 

Matthias, of Austria, Archduke, seeks 
Netherland sovereignty, 221 ; sworn 
in at Brussels, 225 ; opposes Cal¬ 
vinist outrages in Ghent, 243 ; a 
Protestant makeshift, 248 ; neg¬ 
lected by states, 254; departure, 
261. 

Maurice of Nassau, Stadtholder, 
youthful firmness, 275, 324 ; opposes 
French sovereignty in Netherlands, 
327; stadtholder and captain-gen¬ 
eral of Holland and Zealand, 361 ; 
governor-general in Leicester’s ab¬ 
sence, 378; scheme of Leicester 
against him, 385 ; stadtholder of five 
provinces, 400; military improve¬ 
ments, 404, 407 ; captures Deven¬ 
ter, Nimeguen, and Hulst, 408, 
412; takes Coeworden, 414; Ger- 
truydenberg, 417; Groningen, 418; 
attempts' on his life, 420 ; rejects 
peace proposals, 422 ; victories, 428, 
432 ; baffles Admiral of Arragon, 447, 
448 ; irresolutely yields to Barneveld, 
449; success at Nieuport, 451, 453 ; 
reduces Sluys, 480; eclipsed by. 
Spinola, 493 ; opposes peace with 
Spain, 495, 497, 498 ; reconciled 
with Barneveld, 499; won over to 
cause of peace, 500 ; theological and 
political tendencies, 504, 506 ; favors 
Contra-Remonstrants, 507; popu¬ 
larity, 509 (note); becomes Prince 
of Orange, 512 ; bloodless successes, 
509, 510, 515; willing-to pardon 
Barneveld, 522, 524, 529; conspiracy 
against life of, 545, 553; conduct 
toward Barneveld’s sons, 546, and 
note; trials, 554; death, 557; char¬ 
acter vindicated, 558. 

Maximilian of Austria, afterward 
Emperor of Germany, harsh rule in 
the Netherlands, 40. 

Maximilian II., Emperor of Ger- 



Index, 683 


many, temporizing policy, 130; 
favors peace for Netherlands, 139, 
179, 180. 

Mazarin, Cardinal, favors Dutch re¬ 
public, 578; intrigues with Spain, 
578, 585. 

Mechlin, city of, ravaged by Alva, 143 ; 
betrayed to Parma, 253. 

Medici, Catherine de, treachery, 140 ; 
English hatred of, 262; Granvelle's 
enmity to, 322. 

Medina Coeli, Duke of, Governor of 
Netherlands, 139; displaced by 
Alva, 157. 

Medina Sidonia, Duke of, leads “In¬ 
vincible Armada,” 391; burns fleet 
at Cadiz, 427. 

Melo, Don Francisco de, Captain-Gen¬ 
eral of Spanish Netherlands, de¬ 
feated at Rocroi, 578. 

Mendoza, Bernardino de, Spanish 
ambassador at London, intrigues 
against states, 230 ; aids attempts to 
assassinate Orange, 269, 270. 

Mendoza, Francis de. Admiral of Arra- 
gon, invades Cleves and Juliers, 
447; captured at Nieuport, 456; 
dismissed, by Archduke Albert, 466. 

Middleburg, early charter, 25 ; cap¬ 
tured by patriots, 167; thwarts 
William III., 6ii. 

Mondragon, Spanish colonel, marches 
across the Drowned Land, 144; 
surrenders Middleburg, 167 ; fights 
on Cowenstein dyke, 346; governor 
of Antwerp, 352, 411; last victory 
and death, 422. 

Monk, General, naval victories over 
Dutch, 588, 591; repulsed by De 
Ruyter, 594. 

Mons, capital of Hainault, captured 
by Louis of Nassau, 139; abandoned 
to Spaniards, 143. 

Montigny, Baron, missions to Spain, 
79, 93 , marriage, 89; summoned be¬ 
fore Council of Blood, 119 ; strangled 
in prison, 133. 

Montigny, Baron, leader of Walloon 
insurgents, or Malcontents, 242. 

Mook Heath, Spanish victory, 167. 

Moor, Joost de. Vice Admiral of 
Zealand, encounters Spinola’s gal¬ 
leys, 474. 

Mornay, Duplessis, attempt to poison 
him, 271 ; opposes Anjou’s sover¬ 
eignty, 332; vindicates St. Alde- 
gonde, 350. 

Munster, treaty of (Peace of West¬ 


phalia), secures independence of 
United Provinces, 581. 

Mutineers, Spanish, outrages in Bra¬ 
bant, 191, 419; Antwerp “Fury,” 
192; seize Antwerp citadel, 432; 
join archdukes’ army, 450; losses 
at battle of Nieuport, 456; out¬ 
lawed by Archduke Albert, 466 •• 
alliance with Maurice of Nassau, 
477 ; pardoned, 480; revolt against 
Spinola, 490. 


Naardex, sacked by Spaniards, 146, 
149. 

Namur, Citadel of, seized by Don 
John of Austria, 214, 

Napoleon, see Bonaparte. 

Nassau, House of, origin and power, 
63. See Ernest and Henry Casimir 
of, Friso, John of, Justine of, Louis 
of, Louis Gunther of, Maurice of, 
William I., Stadtholder, William 
Frederick of, William Louis of, 
Orange, House of, and Addenda. 

Navigation Act, against Dutch com¬ 
merce, 586. 

Neerwinden, battle of, 619 (note). 

Netherlands (see Estates-General, 
Council of State, United Prov¬ 
inces, and Walloon Provinces), de¬ 
scription of, II, 12; ancient Gauls 
and Germans, 15-20; Roman con¬ 
quest, 19, 20; Frankish rule, 22-25 > 
German empire, 25; Burgundian 
rule, 35, 36; Spanish rule, 40; 
prosperity of, 52; Margaret of 
Parma’s regency, 59; causes of 
revolt, 67; effects of Inquisition, 
86, 90; Orange’s departure, 108; 
Requesens, 166, 176 ; united by Paci¬ 
fication of Ghent, 196; Don John 
of Austria’s attempts to conciliate, 
206; last union of, 223; hastening 
disunion, 245 ; permanent union 
impossible, 247 ; the three divisions, 
258 ; Anjou installed, 263 ; his treach¬ 
ery and death, 291, 299; Orange 
assassinated, 310; Henry 111 ., of 
France refuses sovereignty, 328; 
Leicester’s misrule, 356-386 ; Mau¬ 
rice of Nassau’s conquests, 404-418 ; 
rule of Archduke Ernest, 419-421 ; 
lose aid of Henry IV. of France, 
433; rule of Albert and Isabella, 
434; English peace with archdukes, 
484; twelve years truce, 495; ex¬ 
ecution of Barneveld, 526; Frederick 



684 Index. 


Henry’s triumphs and death of 
Isabella, 567; French aid against 
Spanish Netherlands, 570, 573 ; 
treaty of Munster (peace of West¬ 
phalia), 581 ; French invasion, 611 ; 
Austrian Netherlands, 620 ; pros¬ 
perity under Maria Theresa, 626 ; 
revolt against Joseph 11 ., 631 ; 

subdued by revolutionary France, 
636; Napoleonic rule, 637 ; union 
of Belgium and Holland, 638 ; inde¬ 
pendence of Belgium, 641 ; Nether- 
land Independence threatened by 
Napoleon III., 643; causes of 
national development, 663-664. 

New Netherlands, origin and growth of, 
582; taken by English, 593; re¬ 
gained by Dutch, and relinquished, 
606. 

Nieuport, city of, captured by Parma, 
297 ; Campaign of, 449 - 457 - 

Nimeguen, city of, assaulted by Mar¬ 
tin Schenk, 395, 396 ; captured by 
Maurice of Nassau, 412; stadt- 
holder’s court at, 632; Peace of, 

6ii. 

“ Ninove Starvation,” the, 2S6. 

Noircarmes, sides with Egmont, 85 ; 
captures Tournay, 102; reduces 
Valenciennes, 105 ; entraps Egmont, 
113; cruelties at Mons, 143; weary 
of slaughter, 166. 

Norris, Sir John, victory at Rymenant, 
232 ; fails to succor Maestricht, 251: 
relieves Steenwyk, 257; resigns 
command under Anjou, 294; re¬ 
lieves Grave, 358; at battle of 
Zutphen, 362, 365 ; troubles with 
Leicester, 374; in state council, 
379; unjustly disgraced, 382. 

Obdam, Admiral, victory over Swedes, 
592, 593 - 

Oquendo. Admiral, defeated in the 
Downs, 577. 

Orange, House of, origin and influ¬ 
ence, 63 ; members pensioned, 500 ; 
opposition to, 586; excluded Lorn 
power, 592; act of exclusion re¬ 
pealed, 599 ; represent national unity 
and growth, 603, 604 (note); ambi¬ 
tion for royal marriages, 623. See 
William I., Maurice, Frederick 
Henry, Philip William, and William 
II., William III., William IV., and 
William V., stadtholders. 

Orange Party, oppose peace with 
Spain, 578, 585 ; a startling blow to, 


585 ; height of opposition to, 586 5 
excite popular fury against Tromp, 
5S7; intrigues in Zealand, 588; De 
Witt’s triumph over, 592; sailors 
mutiny for, 593; De Witt’s rela¬ 
tions to, 594, 597; and the army, 
599; accuse the De Witts, 599; 
struggle against municipal corpora¬ 
tions, 619; great concessions to, 
624 ; favor English policy, 629; 
discontent with, 631; badges of, 
forced on opponents, 635. 

Ortell, Joachim, Dutch envoy in Eng¬ 
land, exposes Leicestrian intrigues, 
369, 38 o._ 

Ostend, failure of Spanish attempt 
on, 339 ; transferred to Queen Eliza¬ 
beth. 352 ; Parma inspects defences 
of, 387 ; besieged, 461 ; Vere’s strat¬ 
agem, 465, and its effect in Paris, 
472 (note); a fresh garrison, 466; 
daring assaults, 471, 472; a huge 
slaughter pen, 478 ; Spinola’s oper¬ 
ations against, 479 ; desperate straits 
of besieged, 480; surrender after 
three years’ siege, 483. 

Otheman (Robert Dale), Leicester’s 
agent, Jiarms English cause, 378. 

Oudenarde, captured by Parma, 286. 

Overyssel, states protest against na¬ 
tional synod, 509; won over by 
Maurice of Nassau, 510; wild for 
Orange prince, 591 ; subdued by 
Louis XIV., 599; government con¬ 
trolled by William III., 607 ; his 
plans balked, 611 ; power of mu¬ 
nicipal corporations, 619; demands 
increase of army, 626. 

Pacification of Ghent, treaty of 
Netherland union, 195; causes of 
failure, 248 and note. 

Parma, Alexander of, secures victory 
at Gemblours, 227; governor of 
Netherlands, 235; romantic youths 
238 ; appearance and character, 241; 
hastens disunion of provinces, 245 ; 
siege of Maestricht, 249-252; and 
assassination schemes, 255, 269; 
rejoices at Orange’s reported death, 
281; conquests, 286, 297; encourages 
assassin of Orange, 302; congratu¬ 
lates Philip II. on result, 321 ; 
menaces Netherland independence, 
324; siege of Antwerp, 334-349; 
deceives Queen Elizabeth, 357 ; be¬ 
comes duke, 379; captures Sluys, 
382; inspects Ostend in disguise, 



Index. 


685 


387; shut up in Dunkirk, 391 ; 
kils to take Bergen-op-Zoom, 392; 
French campaign, 399; baffled by 
Maurice of Nassau, 411 ; the king’s 
jealousy, 415; death and character, 
415. 

Parma, Margaret of. Regent, appear¬ 
ance and character, 59; assembles 
Knights of the Fleece, 79; urges 
Granvelle’s removal, 80; her scan¬ 
dalous favoritism, 84; agitated by 
appeals of nobles, 90 ; tries to sup¬ 
press heresy, 102; prejudices the 
king against Orange, 105 ; breaks 
promise to Protestants, 106; leaves 
Netherlands, 116; sent back by 
Philip IL, 257. 

Partition Treaties, the, 615. 

Pauw, Adrian, Grand Pensionary, op¬ 
poses Frederick Henry, 569; spe¬ 
cial envoy to England, 585, 586; 
death, 588. 

Pauw, Reinier, Burgom^aster of Am¬ 
sterdam, one of Barneveld’s oppo¬ 
nents and judges, 520. 

Pecquius, Peter, Chancellor of Bra¬ 
bant, fails to win back United Prov¬ 
inces for Archduke Albert, 541. 

Perez, Antonio, Secretary of State 
for Philip IL, intrigues against Don 
John of Austria, 212; destroys Es- 
covedo, for threatening to reveal his 
amour with the Princess Eboli, the 
King’s mistress, 214, 439. 

Peter the Great, Czar of Russia, re¬ 
sides in Holland, 612. 

Philip the Fair, his exactions and 
mandage, 40. 

Philip the ‘’Good,” of Burgundy, his 
rule in the Netherlands, 35, 36. 

Philip II., of Spain, his appearance at 
abdication of Charles V., 48 ; char¬ 
acter and habits, 51 ; appoints Mar¬ 
garet of Parma, regent, 59; farewell 
address to estates, 60; tyranny in 
the provinces, 79, So; severities 
against Protestants, 84; incensed 
by image-breaking, 101; his objects 
in subduing the provinces, 102, 109; 
treachery toward Netherland envoys, 
114; enforces decree of Inquisition 
against heretics, 120; orders execu¬ 
tion of Montigny, 133; intrigues to 
become Emperor of Germany, 162; 
favors conciliating Netherlands, 166; 
adopts pacific policy of Ruy Gomez, 
176; terms rejected by states-gen- 
eral, 180 ; his bigotry prevents peace. 


228, 253; neglects to succor Don 
John of Austria, 235 ; ratifies treaty 
with Walloon provinces, 247; is¬ 
sues ban against Orange, 254 ; rea¬ 
sons for encouraging assassination, 
267, 269; delays, 285 ; ennobles 
family of Orange’s assassin, 323; 
joy at fall of Antwerp, 350; plots 
to invade England, 388; fails in at¬ 
tempts on the French throne, 417; 
repudiates debts, 431 ; transfers 
Netherlands to Albert and Isabella, 
434 ; death, 437 ; character, 438-443* 

Philip III., of Spain, seizes Dutch 
vessels, 444; appearance and char¬ 
acter, 496; checks peace negotia¬ 
tions, 498; death, 541. 

Philip IV., of Spain, ruled by a favor 
ite, 541; seeks renewal of truce, 
563; his death and the country’s 
exhaustion, 598. 

Philip V., of Spain, acknowledged as 
king by England and United Prov¬ 
inces, 616. 

Philip William, Count of Buren, and 
Prince of Orange, kidnapped by 
Alva, 119; filial attachment, 212; 
returns to Netherlands, 423; family 
affection, 457; marriage and its re¬ 
sults, 494; pensioned, 500. 

Pichegru, invades Belgium and Hol¬ 
land, 636. 

Pilgrim Fathers, departure from Hol¬ 
land, 537. 

Pius V., Pope, rewards Alva, 130. 

“ Pragmatic Sanction,” upheld by 
United Provinces, 623. 

Prie, Marquis of, oppresses Austrian 
Netherlands, 620. 

Protestants, or Reformers, persecutors, 
75 (note); persecuted, 84; camp- 
fneetings, 94; effects of their vio¬ 
lence, loi (note). See CalvinistS; 
Lutherans, and Reformation. 

Piussia, defeats transfer of Austrian 
Netlierlands, 630; invades United 
Provinces, 632; guarantees heredi¬ 
tary stadtholderate, 635; aids to 
restore Prince of Orange, 638 ; pre¬ 
vents Holland from selling Luxem¬ 
burg to Napoleon III., 643. 

Pyrenees, peace of the, 616. 

Radbod, a Frisian king, refuses bap¬ 
tism, 24; Egmont’s descent from, 
71 - 

Raleigh, Sir Walter, attacks Spanish 
fleet at Cadiz, 427. 



686 


Index. 


Ramillies, Marlborough’s victory, 619. 

Rammekens, held by Queen Elizabeth, 
355 ; redeemed from James I., 506. 

Reformers. See Protestants; also p. 

669. 

Reformation enters Netherlands, 68 ; 
how kept out of Spain, 76; spread 
in the provinces, 229. 

Reingault, Burgrave, and Deventer, 
Leicester's favorites, 369, 371. 

Remonstrants and Contra-Remon¬ 
strants, 502; disputes, 503; come 
to blows, 505 ; result in Utrecht, and 
a humorous view, 513 ; Remonstrant 
preaching prohibited, 516 ; allowed, 
1540; persecution of. 550, 5,3; a 
more tolerant rule, 564 

Renneberg, Count, Stadtholder of 
Friesland and Drenfhe, his treach¬ 
ery, 253 ; besieges Steenwyk, 256; 
death, 257. 

Requesens, Grand Commander, at 
Lepanto, 197; succeeds Alva as 
governor, and favors conciliation, 
166; advocates general pardon, 176; 
ignorant of king’s intentions, 180; 
successes, 184 ; death and character, 
187. 

Rheinberg, captured by Maurice of 
Nassau, 432, 461 ; regained by 

Spinola, 489; alarm of Dutch at 
loss, 490. 

“ Rhetoric Chambers,” the, influence 
people against Granvelle, 78. 

Richardot, President of Artois, repre¬ 
sents Spain in peace negotiations, 
497 - 

Richelieu, Cardinal, aids United Prov¬ 
inces, 554; treaty with them, 563; 
fears a United Netherlands, 567; 
opposes Adrian Pauw, 569; new 
Dutch treaty not his work, 570; 
plans Barrier treaty, 573; death, 
578. 

Ripperda, the heroic commandant at 
Haarlem, 149. 

Rocroi, battle of, 578. 

Roda, Jerome de, assumes governor¬ 
ship of provinces, 195. 

Rodney, English admiral, seizes 
Dutch possessions, 628. 

Roman Conquest, the, 19. 

Rosbecque, battle of, 32. 

Rosny, Marquis of. See Sully, 

Rotterdam, recent enterprise of, 641, 

Roubaix and Richebourg, Marquis of, 
formerly Viscount of Ghent, a Mal¬ 
content leader, favors Orange’s 


assassination, 301; killed at Ant¬ 
werp bridge, 343. 

Rubens, favored by Albert and Isa¬ 
bella, 542 ; his mission to England, 

563- 

Rudolph II., Emperor of Germany, 
and Netherland sovereignty, 221 ; 
Don John of Austria’s complaints 
to, 225 ; mediates with Philip II. 
for peace, 252. 

Rupert, Prince, commands English 
fleet off Lowestoft, 593; the four 
days’ battle, 594 ; last contests, 606, 

Russia, joined by United Provinces in 
the “ Armed Neutrality,” 627,628; 
guarantees Emperor Leopold’s sov¬ 
ereignty in Belgium, and withdraws 
guarantee, 631., 

Ruyter. See De Ruyter. 

Ryhove, a reckless partisan .of Orange, 
incites outrages in Ghent, 222, 242 ; 
has Blood Councillor Hessels 
hanged, 243; secures execution of 
.-Imbize, 298. 

Rymenant, Don John of Austria’s 
repulse at, 232. 

Ryswick, peace of, 612. 

Salms, Rhingrave of, his defection, 
632. 

Salseda Conspiracy, true nature of, 
286-288. 

Santa Cruz, Don Alvarez de Bassano, 
Marquis of, at Lepanto, 197 ; first 
commander of “ Invincible Armada,” 
391 ; death, 391. 

Santa Cruz, Marquis of, successor of 
Spinola, his advance into Holland, 

563- . . 

Sarrasin, John, Prior, royalist mtngues 
in the Walloon provinces, 246. 

Savoy, Emanuel Philibert, Duke of, 
Regent of Netherlands, 56. 

Savoy, Thomas, Prince of, commands 
in Spanish Netherlands, defeated by 
the French, 574. 

Saxony, Elector of, favors Orange’s 
second marriage, 72; opposes third 
marriage, 183. 

Scheldt, the, bridged by Parma, 
336 ; closed by treaty of Munster, 
581; Joseph 11 . fails to open, 630; 
freed by the French, 637; all re¬ 
strictions removed from, 644. 

Schenk, Martin, German free lance, 
aids United Provinces, 357; pred¬ 
atory operations, 393; desperate 
struggle and death, 396. 



htdex. 


687 


Schimmelpenninck, Napoleon’s Grand 
Pensionary of Holland. 637, 

Sebastian, Admiral, successes in In¬ 
dia, 488. 

“Sharp Resolve,” the, 508; declared 
unconstitutional, 509. 

Sidney, Sir Philip, accompanies An¬ 
jou to Netherlands, 262, 263 ; Gov¬ 
ernor of Flushing, 355 ; loses favor 
with Queen Elizabeth, 361; self- 
sacrifice at Zutphen, 365 ; death, 366, 

Sixtus V., Pope, confers Queen Eliz¬ 
abeth’s crown on Philip II., 387 ; 
urges invasion of England, 388. 

Slatius, Henry, conspires against life 
of Maurice of Nassau, 549 ; impris¬ 
oned, 550. 

Sluys, besieged by Parma, 381, 382; 
harbors Spinola’s galleys, 473, 474; 
besieged by Maurice of Nassau, 480 ; 
repulse of Du Terrail, 488. 

Solms, Amalia van, wife of Frederick 

• Henry, character and influence, 558 ; 
favors peace with Spain, 581. 

Solms, George Everard, Count, mar¬ 
riage, 421 ; at battle of Nieuport, 
456. 

Sonoy, Diedrich, Orange’s lieutenant, 
prepares to flood North Holland, 
161 ; cruelties, 183 ; holds out for 
Leicester, 387; submits to states, 
388. 

Spain, controls Netherlands, 40; 
liberties of, declining, 48; income 
from provinces, 52 ; war with 
France, 56, 59; a fertile field for 
the Inquisition, 76; Egmont’s mis¬ 
sion to, 86; people weary of Neth- 
erland contest, 179 ; regains Walloon 
provinces, 247 ; conquers Portugal, 
254 ; Holland and Zealand declare 
independence of, 258 ; sack of Cadiz, 
427 ; French peace with, 433 ; effect 
of policy of Philip II., 440 ; deserted 
by England and France, 495 ; favors 
peace with Netherlands, 496 ; 
alarmed by Heemskerk’s victory, 
497 ; decline at death of Philip HI., 
541 ; alliances of French and 
Dutch against, 554, 570; govern¬ 
ment dissolves states-general at 
Brussels, 573 ; defeat of P'rench and 
Dutch, 574; fatal blow to naval 
power, 577; general weakness of, 
5 78; humiliating treaty of peace 
with United Provinces, 581 ; re¬ 
gains Netherland places by treaty of 
Ryswick, 612. 


Spinola, Ambrose, Marquis, takes 
command at siege of Ostend, 479 ; 
success, 483; captures Rheinberg, 
489; financial difficulties, 490; 
eclipses Maurice of Nassau, 493; 
his mission for peace, 498 ; contends 
for Cleves succession, 501 ; over¬ 
awes Brussels, 542; in the Thirty 
Years’ War, 545 ; besieges Breda, 
554; recalled in disgrace, 559; un¬ 
justly sacrificed, 560. 

Spinola, Frederick, his daring priva¬ 
teering, 473 ; death and character, 
474 and note. 

Ste. Aldegonde, supports compromise 
of the nobles, 89; opposed to Ana¬ 
baptists, 213; favors cause of An¬ 
jou, 262; allays excitement against 
French, 276, 277; mission to the 
States-general, 280 ; appointed chief 
burgomaster of Antwerp, 330; re¬ 
view of services, 331-333; difficul¬ 
ties in Antwerp, 336; aids attack 
on Cowenstein dyke, 345 ; desperate 
straits in Antwerp, 347; the city 
surrendered, 348; ill treated by 
Holland and Zealand, 350; death 
and character, 351. 

St. Bartholomew, massacre of, a blow 
to Orange, 140. 

St. Quentin, Egmont’s victory, 56. 

St. Trond, meeting of Confederate 
nobles at, 94. 

Stadtholderate, of United Provinces, 
abolished, 592 ; restored, 599 ; made 
hereditary in family of William HI., 
607 ; overthrown, 619 ; restored and 
made hereditary in family of Wil¬ 
liam IV., 624; hereditary, guaranteed 
by Prussia and England, 635. 

Stanley, Sir William, his brai^^ery at 
Zutphen, 365 ; governor of Deven¬ 
ter, 372: treachery, 374, 377 and 
note. 

Steenwyk, besieged by Count Renne- 
berg, 256; his repulse, 257; cap¬ 
tured by Maurice of Nassau, 413. 

Steinkirk, battle of, 619 (note). 

Stoutenberg, son of Barneveld, con¬ 
spires against Maurice of Nassau, 
546 ; flight, 550 ; unpopularity, 553 ; 
aids Spaniards, 563. 

Succession, Cleves. struggle for, on 
death of Duke John William, 501. 

Succession, Spanish, complications of, 
615, 616. 

Sully, Duke of, Barneveld’s appeal to, 
477; effects English and French 






688 


Index. 


alliance, 478; policy toward United 
Provinces, 490 (note). 

Sweden, honors to Grotius in, 540, 
541 ; compelled to peace by De 
Ruyter, 593; and Triple Alliance, 
598. 


Tappin, Sebastian, his gallant de¬ 
fence of Maestricht, 249-252. 

Tassis, John Baptist, Spanish ambas¬ 
sador to France, explains Salseda 
conspiracy, 287; encourages Orange’s 
assassination, 300 ; surrender of De¬ 
venter to, 377. 

Teligny, son of the “ iron-armed ” La 
None, gallant defence of Fort Lillo, 
334 ; captured by Spaniards, 336. 

Temple, Sir William, negotiates Triple 
Alliance, 598; impressed by De 
Witt’s simple habits, 603. 

Tergoes, city of, saved by Mondragon, 
144. 

Texel, the, De Ruyter’s victory in, 606; 
cavalry capture Dutch fleet in, 636. 

Thirty Years’ War, the, 545. 

Tholouse, Marnix de, dies for re¬ 
ligious liberty, 106. 

Tichelaar, a barber-surgeon, aids mas¬ 
sacre of the De Witts, 600. 

Tilly, Count, tries to protect the De 
Witts, 600. 

Tirlemont, city of, stormed by French 
and Dutch, 574. 

Titelmann, Peter, cruef Netherland 
Inqiuisitor, 76. 

Torquemada, his administration of 
the Inquisition in Spain, 76. 

Tournay, submits to Noircarmes, 102; 
surrenders to Parma, 261. 

Trent, Council of, decrees against 
heretics, 84, 85. 

Treslong, Admiral, capture of Brill, 
136; neglects to pimvision Antwerp, 
333 ; cashiered and imprisoned, 339. 

Tromp, Admiral, victory in the Downs, 
577; battle with Blake, 586 ; super¬ 
seded by De Ruyter, 587 ; victory 
and defeat, 588 ; killed in battle with 
Monk, 591. 

Tromp, Cornelius, son of the preced¬ 
ing, naval triumphs, 587 ; a zealous 
Orange partisan, 593; the four days’ 
battle, 594; dismissed for reckless¬ 
ness, 597 ; gallantry in the Texel, 
606. 

Truce, the Twelve Years’, how effected 
498, 499; results, 500; grave dis¬ 


sensions during, 521, 541 ; war re¬ 
newed on expiration, 545. 

Truchsess, Gebhard, ex-Archbishop of 
Cologne, his trials, 327 ; aided by 
England and United Provinces, 357; 
one of Leicester’s spies, 370 ; takes 
refuge in Germany, 395. 

Tulipomania, an absurd speculative 
fever, 575. 

Turenne, Marshal, invades United 
Provinces, 599. 

Turks, supremacy shattered at Le- 
panto, 198 ; Philip’s war with, leads 
to attempts on Orange’s life, 267 ; 
Germany’s fear of, 327 ; efforts to 
unite Europe against, 432. 

Turnhout, Maurice of Nassau’s vic¬ 
tory, 428, 432. 


Union, of Holland and Zealand, 180 ; 
a more perfect, 188. 

Union, the Brussels, 266, 248. 

Union, new, of Brussels, last con¬ 
federation of all the Netherlands, 
248. 

Union of Utrecht, foundation of Neth¬ 
erland independence, 246, 248 ; de¬ 
fects, 530, 598. 

United Provinces, origin, 246, 258, 284; 
appeal to England and France, 
321; desperate condition, 324, 
France and England refuse prof¬ 
fered sovereignty of, 328, 355 ; 

Leicester accepts governor-general- 
ship, 356; prosperity, 372; be¬ 
trayed by trusted foreigners, 373- 
377 ; troubles with Queen Elizabeth, 
378-385 ; Leicester’s departure, 386 ; 
ill feeling toward England, 392; 
fresh vigor of government, 400; 
Maurice of Nassau’s triumphs, 404 ; 
disputes with England, 414 ; leagued 
with France and England against 
Spain, 427 ; lose aid of Henry IV., 
but are favored by Queen Elizabeth, 
433 ; distrust Archduxe Albert, 
437 ; maritime enterprise, 446 ; 
urgent appeals to France'and Eng¬ 
land, 477; appeal to France, 489; 
; the Twelve Years’ Truce, 499; bitter 
theological disputes, 502; trial and 
execution of Barneveld, 514 ; impor¬ 
tant aid from France, 570, 573 ; inde¬ 
pendence acknowledged by Spain, 
581; distrust of France, 585 ; war 
with England, 587; exclusion of 





Index. 


689 


House of Orange from power, 592 ; a 
second war with England,'593 ; ill- 
starred Triple Alliance, 598; French 
invasion, 599; a stadtholderless gov¬ 
ernment, 619; Peace of Aix-la- 
Chapelle, 625 ; English assaults, 
628 ; Prussian invasion, 632 ; French 
domination, 637; union with Bel¬ 
gium, 638. 

Utrecht, Christian Church founded 
at, 23 ; warlike bishops, 25 ; pun¬ 
ished by Council of Blood, 130 ; 
treaty of “ Satisfaction,” 217 ; Union 
of, founds Netherland independence, 
246; province, revolutionized and 
sovereignty offered to Queen Eliza¬ 
beth, 369 ; Leicester’s banishment 
of Catholics, 371 ; city favors alle¬ 
giance to England, 387 ; Maurice of 
Nassau becomes stadtholder, 400; 
his defence against Spinola, 489; 
states protest against National 
synod, 509; they nullify authority 
of the republic, 510; overawed by 
Maurice of Nassau, 512; Van den 
Berg’s invasion, 560; desperate re¬ 
sistance, 563; William III., in con¬ 
trol, 607; municipalities regain 
power, 619; supports stadtholder 
William V., 626; abandoned by 
Rhingrave of Salms, 632. 

Uytenbogaert, a famous Arminian 
preacher, 504. 


Valenciennes, noted for its cam¬ 
lets, 52; captured by Noircarmes, 
105. 

Valois, Margaret of.. Queen of Navarre, 
reception by Don John of Austria, 
214. 

Van Artevelde, see Artevelde. 

Van Berckel, Pensionary of Amster¬ 
dam, favors the French, 626. 

Van den Berg, Frederic, Count, sur¬ 
renders Ooeworden, 413; commands 
at siege of Ostend, 461. 

Van den Berg, Henry, Count, com¬ 
mands for Archduchess Isabella, 
55 ; foiled by stadtholder Frederick 
Henry, 560 ; intrigues against Span¬ 
ish rule, 564 ; sentenced to death, 
570. 

Yan den Berg, Herman, Count, sur¬ 
renders Deventer, 411. 

Vandenesse, private secretary of Philip 
II., his warning to Orange, 108. 


Van den Hove, Anna, last victim of 
fatal persecution in Netherlands, 431. 

Van der Does, John, or Dousa, brave 
defence of Leyden, 167; mission to 
England, 352. 

Van der Does, Peter, Admiral, com¬ 
mands naval e.xpedition against 
Spanish ports, 447, 448. 

Van der Linden, John, Abbot of St. 
Gertrude, intrigues to assassinate 
Orange, 270, 271. 

Van der Mersch, patriot general in the 
Austrian Netherlands, 631. 

Van der Mey, Peter, a carpenter, 
ribks his life to save Alkmaar, 161. 

Van der Nqot, a reactionary enthu¬ 
siast in Austrian Netherlands, 631. 

Van de Spiegel, Lawrence, Grand Pen¬ 
sionary of Holland, 636. 

Van Galen, Admiral, exploits and 
death, 587. 

Van Galen, Bishop of Munster, inva¬ 
sion of Friesland repelled, 594. 

Van Helmont, chemist, persecuted as 
a sorcerer, 665. 

Van Meteren, a Flemish historian of 
Netherlands, whose work was pub¬ 
lished in Holland, 249 (note), 348, 
582. 

Varax, Count, defeated by IMaurice of 
Nassau at Turnhoiit, 428. 

Vargas, Juan de, chief of Council of 
Blood, 114, 115. 

Venero and Timmerman, accomplices 
of Orange's assassin, 277 ; executed, 
279. 

Verdugo, Francis, Spanish governor 
of Friesland, assassination charge, 
378 ; his “ shirt attack ” repulsed, 
414; retreats from Coeworden, 418. 

Vere, Aubrey de, nineteenth Earl of 
Oxford, killed at siege of Maes- 
tricht, 564. 

Vere, Sir Francis, wounded at Steen- 
wyk, 413 ; opposed to Nieuport cam¬ 
paign, 449; his services, 451, 456 ; 
commands at Ostend, governor of 
Brill, difficulties with states, 462 and 
note, 465 ; joins Maurice of Nassau 
in the field, 466 ; peace negotiations, 
472 (note). 

Vere, Sir Horace, Governor of Brill, 
supports Maurice of Nassau, 512. 

Vere, family of, services to Netherland 
freedom, 462 (note), 564. 

Verhoef, incites massacre of the De 
Witts, 6co ; brutal treatment of their 
remains, 603 (note). 




690 


Index. 


Vervins, treaty of peace between 
France and Spain at, 433. 

Viglius van Aytta, President of State- 
Council, 60 ; attacked by apoplexy, 
85 ; deplores king’s delays, 188 ; 
death and character, 211 . 

Villeroy, Prime Minister of Henry IV., 
encourages Barneveld with hopes of 
aid, 489. 

Villiers, chaplain and counsellor of 
Orange, draws up answer to Philip’s 
ban, 256 (note); comforts prince 
after Jaureguy’s assault, 275 ; visited 
by Balthazar Gerard, 306 ; Orange’s 
reliance on him, 332 ; opposed to 
English influence, 378 ; stadtholder 
of Utrecht, 400 ; death, 400. 

Voetians, a religious party in Holland, 
608. 

Vonck, a patriot lawyer, seeks reform 
in Austrian Netherlands, 631. 

Vondel, great Dutch dramatic poet, 
582. 

Vorstius, successor of Arminius at 
Leyden, deposed, 503. 


Waartgelders, raised to protect 
Dutch towns, 427 ; unwise employ¬ 
ment of by states of Holland, 508; 
Barneveld’s mistaken policy with, 
510; submit to Maurice of Nassau, 
512. 

Walcheren Expedition^ English, fate 
of, 637. 

Walloon Provinces, Artois, Lille, 
Douay, and Orchies, oppose Prot¬ 
estant baptism of Orange’s daughter, 
234 ; people refuse to lay down 
arms, 244; withdraw from national 
cause, 246; treat with Spain, 247; 
favor return of Spanish troops, 285 ; 
nobles intrigue against Spain, 564; 
people no match for Dutch, 665. 

Waloeus, Anthony, tries to save Bar¬ 
neveld, 523, 524. 

Walsingham, Sir Francis, condemns 
Queen Elizabeth’s crooked policy, 
232; impressions of Don John of 
Austria, 233; vindicates St. Alde- 
gonde’s integrity, 330; warnings 
against Spanish invasion, 385. 

Warfusee, Count, a Belgian grandee, 
intrigues against Spanish rule, 564; 
punishment, 570. 

Warmond, Admiral, blockades Parma’s 
barges, 391 ; takes part in Cadiz 
expedition, 424. 


Westphalia, peace of, 644. See 
Munster. 

“ White Hoods,” men of Ghent, in 
military service, 28. 

Wilkes, Thomas, English envoy to 
United Provinces, relations with 
Leicester, 377, 378 ; refuses to vote 
in state council, 379; disgraced on 
return to England, 382. 

William I., Stadtholder, “Orange,” at 
abdication of Charles V., 47; why 
called the Silent, 64; sumptuous 
mode of life, 65; marries Anna of 
Saxony, 72 ; opposes Granvelle and 
Philip II., 71, 79 ; bribes the King’s 
secretary, 90; drinks to the “ beg¬ 
gars,” 93; preserves peace at Ant¬ 
werp, 94; conference with nobles, 
105 ; protects Antwerp, 106, 107; 
leaves Netherlands, 108 ; summoned 
before Council of Blood, 119; pre¬ 
pares to invade Netherlands, 122; 
disbands his army, 128; narrowly 
escapes capture, 140, 143 ; attempts 
to relieve Haarlem, 153; becomes 
a Calvinist, 165; sends relief to 
Leyden, i 65 , 171 ; troubles with 
states of Holland, 179; supreme au¬ 
thority during the war, 180 ; marries 
Charlotte of Bourbon, 183; seizes 
London merchant fleet, 184; sub¬ 
lime resolve, 187; secures Pacifica¬ 
tion of Ghent, 193 ; opposes Don 
John of Austria, 205-207; grand 
reception in Brussels, 219; bent 
on war, 220; elected Ruward of 
Brabant, 221; conciliatory policy in 
Ghent, 223; sworn in as lieutenant 
10 Matthias, 225 ; protects Catholic 
leaders, 228; intrigues against Don 
John of Austria, 236 ; arranges a 
religious peace, 244 ; signs “ Union 
of Utrecht,” 246; accepts govern¬ 
ment of Flanders, 252; replies to 
ban of Philip II., 255 ; accepts 
sovereignty of Holland and Zealand, 
258 ; assists at Anjou’s installation, 
263 ; various attempts upon his life, 
266-271; accepts sovereignty of 
Holland, 284; divides authority 
with states, 285 ; favors restoration 
of Anjou, 294 ; ill-treated in Ant¬ 
werp, 298; retires to Delft, 299; 
failure of attempts upon his life, 
300; assassinated by Gerard, 310; 
funeral, 315 ; character, 316-320. 

William II., Stadtholder, Prince of 
Orange, granted reversion of father’s 




Index. 


691 


offices, 563; marries Princess Mary 
of England, 577; violent measures 
and death, 585. 

William III., Stadtholder, Prince of 
Orange, early intrigues in his favor, 
586, 588, 593; stadtholder and 

captain-general of Holland and 
Zealand, 599; heroic resistance to 
French invasion, 605 ; increase ot 
authority, and fears of his ambition, 
607; marries Princess Mary of 
England and contends with Louis 
XIV., 608; becomes William III. 
of England, 611; sovereignty recog¬ 
nized by Louis XIV., 612 ; alliances 
against France, 6155 death and 
character, 616, 619. 

William IV., Stadtholder, Prince of 
Orange, marries Princess Anne ot 
England, and cedes principality of 
Orange to France, 623; made stadt¬ 
holder of United Provinces, 624; 
death generally lamented, 625. 

William V.,. Stadtholder, Prince of 
Orange, irresoluteness, 625 ; subject 
to English influence, 626, 627 ; de¬ 
prived of office by states of Holland, 
and reinstated, 632; takes refuge 
in England, 636. 

William L, King of the Netherlands, 
son of stadtholder William V., valor 
at Waterloo, 638; enthroned by 
the great powers, 638; loses Bel¬ 
gium, and resigns crown of Holland, 
641. 

William IL, King of the (Dutch) 
Netherlands, reigns peacefully till 
his death in 1849, 641. 

William III., King of the (Dutch) 
Netherlands, improvements during 
his reign, 641, 642; prevented by 
Prussia from selling Luxemburg to 
Napoleon HL, 643. See Addenda. 

William Frederick of Nassau, Count, 
stadtholder of Friesland, averse to 
the Orange branch of the house, 
581; aids Prince William’s violent 
measures against Amsterdam, 585; 
intrigues in his favor in Zealand, 
588. 

William Louis of Nassau, Count, 
stadtholder of Friesland, his opin¬ 
ion of Leicester, 378; military ad¬ 
viser of Maurice, 404; aids in 
capture of Steenwyk, 413 ; opposes 
Nieuport campaign, 449; opinion of 
Sir Francis Vere, 462 (note); pre¬ 


vails on Maurice to favor synod, 506, 
507 ; asks mercy for Barneveld, 522. 

Williams, Sir Roger, his gallant de¬ 
fence of Sluys, 381, 382. 

Willoughby, Lord, arrives in Nether¬ 
lands with Anjou, 262 ; gallantry at 
Zutphen, 365; troubles with Dutch 
leaders, 388; entraps Spaniards at 
Bergen-op-Zoom, 392; vindicates Sir 
John Wingfield, 395. 

Wingfield, Sir John, surrenders Ger- 
truydenberg to Spaniards, 392; a 
price set on his head, 395. 

Winwood, Sir Ralph, English ambas¬ 
sador and member of Council of 
State, collection of State Papers, 462 
(note); views from Paris, 472 
(note); expects collapse of republic, 
478 (note); assists in peace negotia¬ 
tions, 497 ; succeeded by Sir Dudley 
Carleton, 505 

Women, of Netherlands, vigor and 
energy, 55 ; defence of Haarlem, 
150; bravery at Leyden, 158; re¬ 
sist Spanish mutineers at Antwerp, 
192; aid in defending Maestricht, 
250; assist to repel French at Ant¬ 
werp, 292 ; defend Sluys, 381; aid 
defence of Bergen-op-Zoom, 488; 
declining influence, 624. 


Xanten, treaty of, 501. 

Ybarra, Stephen, Spanish Finance 
Minister at Brussels, assassination 
schemes, 420. 

York, Duke of, afterward James XL 
of England, exile in United Prov¬ 
inces, 585 ; commands English fleet 
off Lowestoft, 593. 

Yorke,. Rowland, an English adven¬ 
turer, favored by Leicester, 373; 
treachery, 377. 

Yssunca, John, plots to assassinate 
Orange, 278. 

Zapena, a Spanish general, wise ad¬ 
vice to Archduke Albert at Nieu¬ 
port, 451. 

Zealand, French protectorate of, 162 ; 
united with Holland, 180; islands 
of, captured by Spaniards, 184; re¬ 
cover^ by patriots, 196; blocks 
truce with Spain, 499; why opposed 




692 


Supplementary htdex. 


to peace, 585; intrigues of Orange 
party, 588; devoted to Prince, 591, 
599: opposes sovereignty of Wil¬ 
liam III., in Gelderland, 607;.revo¬ 
lutionized in favor of William IV., 
624; supports stadtholder’s policy, 
626. 

Zierickzee, city of, besieged by Mon¬ 
dragon, 184; captured, 188. 


Zoutman, Admiral, commands at bat¬ 
tle of the Doggerbank’, 628. 

Zutphen, Don Frederic’s cruelties, 146; 
captured by Parma, 297; death of 
Sidney and capture of fort, 365, 366 ; 
Rowland Yorke in command of fort¬ 
ress, 373 ; its betrayal, 377. 

Zuider Zee, origin, 26; plan for filling 
it, 27 ; Dutch victory on, 165. 


SUPPLEMENTARY INDEX. 


Acheen, war in, 647, 650, 656. 

Adolph, duke of Nassau, 655, 658. 
Agriculture, progress in, 667. 
Amsterdam, international exhibition in, 
646 ; riots in, 650. 

Army, the, 659. 

Arts and Sciences, the, 667. 

Bantam, assault on, 656. 

Barometer, invention of, 667. 

Berri Berri, the disease, 657. 

Constitution, revision of, 646. 

Drebbel, Cornelius, the inventor, 667. 

East Indies, Dutch in, 649. 

Education, 653. 

Eel-baiting, prohibited, 649. 

Elections in 1888, 654. 

Elzevirs, the first publishers, 667. 
Emma, Queen, appointed regent, 652, 

657- 

Exports (1883-1893), 662. 

Franchise, extension of, 660. 

Free Trade, Dutch policy of, 655. 
Fortuyns, the socialist, imprisoned, 650. 

Heemskerk, political leader, 649, 653. 

Imports, (1883-1893), 662. 

Java, forced labor, 654, 655 ; attempted 
restoration of Empire, 656. 

Jansen, Zacharias, 667. 

Keuchenius, minister of Colonies, 652, 

654- 

Kirmiss, interdiction of the, 649. 

Latitude and Longitude, invention of, 
667. 

H 98 


Merwede, canal of, 661. 

Microscope, invention, 667. 

Navigation, Dutch teaches Europe, 667. 
Navy, the, 659. 

Netherlands of to-day, 668. 

Nisero, stranding of the, 647. 

Penang, English settlers in, 650. 
Population of the Netherlands, 646, 661, 
Prince of Orange, death of, 648. 
Printing Presses in Holland, 667. 

Public Debt (1883) 646, (1888) 654, 
(1893) 661. 

Publishers, the first known, 667. 

Right of assembly restricted, 650. 
Russian Emperor appointed arbitrator, 
658. 

Sabbatb, observance of, 659. 

Socialists, 648, 660. 

Suellius, Willebrod, discoveries of, 667. 
Sugar, decline in price, 648. 

Sumatra, war in, 651. 

Surinam, B'rench claim in, 658. 

Tak-van-Portvliet, the reform's of, 660. 
Taxation, revision of, 659. 

Telescope, invention of, 667. 

Tenom, audacity of Rajah of, 650. 
Thermometer, invention of, 667, 

Umbili River coal fields, 651. 

Van Lynden, defeat of.administration, 

645-. 

Van Tienhoven, Dr. premier, 659. 

Wilhelmina, Princess, 648, 652 ; Queen, 
657 - 

William HI., health of, 652 ; death of, 

657. 

89 








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